Civilians in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region were urged to flee on Wednesday as Russian forces bombarded the region.

“Russia has turned the entire Donetsk region into a dangerous hotspot for civilians as well. I call on everyone to evacuate, evacuation saves lives,” Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.

In Slovyansk, which was reportedly among Moscow’s main targets in Donetsk, Mayor Vadym Lyakh said buses and trains were ready to transport civilians to the country’s west.

“Don’t take any risks! Pack up,” Lyakh said.

The focus of fighting has shifted to the Donetsk region of the Donbas, after the Ukrainian military largely withdrew from neighbouring Luhansk, where Russian forces captured the key city of Lysychansk on Sunday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine’s military reported that it had repelled Russian attacks close to Lysychansk and “inflicted significant losses on the enemy.”

The information cannot be independently verified.

The Ukrainian army has built a new defensive wall along the line of three small towns Siversk, Soledar and Bakhmut – after the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk fell.

The aim is to stop Russia’s offensive from the east on the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk industrial area, which is Ukraine’s military headquarters in the Donbas.

Fighting is currently underway around its front lines.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, praised the accuracy of Western weapons delivered by Kyiv’s allies and said they were being used to destroy Russian depots and other targets with logistical significance for Moscow.

He also said the Pedagogical University in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was destroyed in a Russian strike on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said it had destroyed two U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) missile launchers near the village of Malotaranovi.

This is according to Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov.

Russian forces also destroyed a large artillery ammunition depot near the front line Ukrainian town of Soledar, Mr Konashenkov said.

He said in the process, 1,500 artillery shells of various calibres and more than 100 anti-tank missiles of foreign production were blown up.

This information can also not be independently verified.

Elsewhere, G20 foreign ministers were gearing up to meet in Bali from Thursday, in what is seen as an important test regarding the potential participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in November.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has planned to meet a number of his counterparts for bilateral talks. He told Russian news agency TASS on Wednesday during a visit to Vietnam.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken already declined a meeting with Mr Lavrov.

Numerous politicians have criticised Mr Lavrov’s participation in the summit on account of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the ministers would not simply let Russia have the stage at the G20 meeting.

“We all have an interest in making sure that international law is abided by and respected,” she said before her departure for Bali.

She added that people on several continents had felt the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

(dpa/NAN)