Ukraine resists Russian push in Donetsk

Ukrainian forces resisted Russia's renewed push to take control of Donetsk over the weekend. Russia's military attacked settlements on the highway leading from the Luhansk region to the industrial cities of Donetsk, but met stiff resistance, were "firmly repulsed, suffered losses, and withdrew," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Sunday. Russian forces have intensified bombardments of towns and cities in Donetsk since capturing Lysychansk, the last city in the neighboring Luhansk region that Ukraine controlled. Moscow, which gave up on capturing the capital city, Kyiv, early in its invasion of Ukraine, has said the goal of its "special military operation" now is to seize Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia separatists already had a foothold. Ukraine still holds about 45 percent of Donetsk.