Putin orders Russians to fight on after key Ukraine city taken

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's army has continued to 'brutally' shell multiple cities

President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered Russian troops to press their offensive deeper into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine after Moscow's forces seized the strategic city of Lysychansk.

With the war now well into its fifth month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, governments and organisations gathered for a conference in Switzerland to launch a plan to rebuild the country even as the conflict shows no sign of abating.

After giving up on its initial war aim of capturing Kyiv following tough Ukrainian resistance, Russia has focused its efforts on securing control of the Donetsk and Lugansk areas which make up the Donbas region.

In a sign there would be no let-up in the fighting and that Russia now had its eyes on the entire Donetsk region, Putin told Shoigu that troops stationed there must continue their operations.

"I hope that everything will continue in their direction as has happened in Lugansk so far." 

- 'Most modern weapons' -

Moscow's capture of Lysychansk -- one week after the Ukrainian army also retreated from the neighbouring city of Severodonetsk -- frees up Russian forces to advance on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk.

"We keep defending a small part of the Lugansk region so that our army could build protective redoubts," he added.

"Ukraine will reach the level when the fire superiority of the occupiers will be levelled."

In the large downtown market largely ravaged by a fire caused by a Russian strike, a few vendors offered basic goods while others cleared charred debris. 

- 'Task of democratic world' -

But Zelensky's address Sunday evening was defiant, pointing to Ukrainian troops would "win back" territory in the Donbas just has they had in other regions earlier in the war.

Lugano is not a pledging conference but will instead attempt to lay out the principles and priorities for a rebuilding process aimed to begin even as the war rages.

In a video address to the conference that was attended in person by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Zelensky described rebuilding Ukraine as the "common task of the whole democratic world" and the "biggest contribution to the support of global peace."

"We're going to bed without knowing if we'll wake up tomorrow," said Vera Semeniouk, 65. 

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