Russia moves battalions and rocket launchers to Donbas target Izium

Moscow is using the eastern city as a focal point of wider offensive in the region

A Ukrainian fighter near the city of Izium in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. EPA

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Russia is moving troops and weapons towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium and using it as a focal point in their attempt to capture the Donbas region, Ukraine and the UK have said.

Ukraine said Russia suffered losses in an offensive near the city but was reinforcing its attack with a battery of Tulip mortar weapons and Tornado multiple rocket launchers moved from the Russian border region of Belgorod.

Britain, meanwhile, said Moscow sent 22 battalion tactical groups – a type of formation kept at high readiness by Russian military chiefs – near Izium as part of its attempt to advance along the "northern axis" of the Donbas.

Although Russia has struggled to gain momentum in the east, it is "highly likely" that it intends to proceed beyond Izium and capture the cities of Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk, the UK Defence Ministry said in a regular intelligence update.

"Capturing these locations would consolidate Russian military control of the north-eastern Donbas and provide a staging point for their efforts to cut off Ukrainian forces in the region," it said.

Russia said it shot down at least one Ukrainian drone near Izium and foiled the delivery of western arms to the Donbas by destroying six railway substations.

Those attacks included missile strikes in Lviv in western Ukraine, which has largely been spared the worst of the fighting. City Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said two people were injured and water and electricity supplies disrupted by the strikes.

At least 156 people have been evacuated from a steel plant in Mariupol, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting, Ukraine said. They were taken to the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

"This is not a victory yet, but this is already a result. I believe that there is a chance to save our other people," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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  A woman rescues some of her belongings from her house in Irpin, near Kyiv, which was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing in late March. AP

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  A driver helps a woman board a bus at a reception centre for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP

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  People fleeing Mariupol's Azovstal plant arrive on buses at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia. AFP

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  A woman stands next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, after it was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing. AP

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  People hold banners and shout slogans during a demonstration in support of Mariupol defenders in Kyiv, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  A woman stands near her house that was destroyed by shelling in Sloboda, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. Reuters

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  A mother and child in Lviv, Ukraine, wait to board transport destined for Przemysl, Poland. Getty Images

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  President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claps as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv via videolink. Reuters

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  Firefighters work to extinguish flames after a Russian bombardment at a park in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

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  The television tower is illuminated in the national colors of the Ukrainian flag to show solidarity with the country at the Olympic Park in Munich, southern Germany. AFP

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  Flooded gardens and fields are shown in Demydiv, Ukraine. To keep Russian armoured columns at bay, Ukrainian forces released water from a nearby hydroelectric dam to intentionally flood Demydiv, a village north of Kyiv. The decision was effective, but efforts to drain the area are complicated. Getty Images

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  A damaged Orthodox icon is seen in the corner of local resident Yurii's heavily damaged house in Fenevychi, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  Valentyna, 71, stands by her cat, who was injured in the fighting, in Fenevychi. Getty Images

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  Yurii, 53, stands in his heavily damaged house in Fenevychi. Getty Images

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  Evacuees from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman, which has suffered heavy shelling, ride on a bus in Raihorodok. AFP

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  A man delivers loaves of bread to a woman in the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP

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  Nazar, right, boards a bulletproof bus to evacuate with his family from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP

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  A dog chases a hare by the wall of a burnt house in Fenevychi. Getty Images

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  Nine-year-old Galina, right, and Nazar, 8, arrive with their families in Raihorodok. AFP

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  Natalia Pototska, 43, cries as her grandson Matviy looks on in Zaporizhzhia. AP

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  Hryhorii, a member of the Ukrainian military meets his wife Oksana, who fled from the Russian-occupied Novomykhailivka village, at the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia. EPA

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  Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomes Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod to Kyiv. Reuters

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  Buildings destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodianka, in Ukraine's Kyiv region. Reuters

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  Volunteers carry an elderly woman in a blanket during the evacuation of a frontline village retaken by Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters

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  A Ukrainian man walks past the turret of a Russian tank next to a destroyed petrol station in the village of Skybyn, north-east of Kyiv. AFP

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  Andrii Fedorov hugs his son Makar as they are reunited in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, after the boy and his mother fled besieged Mariupol. AP

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  Volunteers at the Help Ukraine Center in Lublin, south-eastern Poland. More than 3 million Ukrainian refugees are now in Poland. EPA

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  Police officers deliver loaves of bread to residents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, which is being heavily shelled. AFP

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  Savelii, 10, mourns at the grave of his father, who died protecting his city as a member of the Territorial Defence, in Irpin, Ukraine. EPA

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  Ukrainian soliders ride on a truck to a resting place after fighting in the front line for two months near Kramatorsk. AFP

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  A shopkeeper clears shelves before closing up in Sviatohirsk, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion. AFP

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  Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant as part of an evacuation of Mariupol arrive at temporary accommodation in Bezimenne, Donetsk region. Reuters

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  Azovstal steel plant employee Valeria, who was part of an evacuation of Mariupol, hugs her son Matvey, who had earlier left the city with his relatives, as they meet again in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters

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  A pro-Russian troop stands guard in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters

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  A picture taken during a visit to Mariupol organised by the Russian military shows Russian serviceman on patrol outside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, south-eastern Ukraine. EPA

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  A woman is assisted during the UN-led evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant, after nearly two months of siege warfare on Mariupol by Russia. Reuters

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  Civilians gather for humanitarian aid, distributed by the Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry in Berdyansk, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine. AP

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  Ukrainian servicemen are seen near a T-80 tank captured from Russian troops in Kharkiv region. Reuters

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  A Ukrainian soldier takes a break from the conflict and tries to pet a stork in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region. Reuters

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  A satellite image shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP

He said Russia was flouting the terms of a ceasefire by continuing attacks on the Azovstal plant, where Moscow says Ukrainian fighters and mercenaries have taken shelter.

He taunted Moscow in an overnight address by saying the latest missile strikes were a sign that Russian generals "are trying to vent their powerlessness ... because they can't beat Ukraine".

Russia has reorganised its invasion around the Donbas after failing to capture Kyiv in the early weeks of its war. Western officials say the Russian military has been plagued by problems such as low morale, poor communication and misfiring equipment.

To the north, Russia's ally Belarus, which borders Ukraine, launched what it said were surprise military exercises on Wednesday to test the readiness of its army.

Military units tested their ability to "go on the alert, move to predetermined zones and undertake combat training", said the Defence Ministry in Belarus, which is accused by Ukraine and its allies of acting as a staging post for the Russian invasion.