Russia-Ukraine live news: Street battles rage in Severodonetsk | Russia-Ukraine war News

Ukraine’s president says situation in Severodonetsk, where street fighting is continuing, remains ‘extremely difficult’.

• Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskyy says the main church at Sviatohirsk Lavra, one of the country’s holiest Orthodox Christian sites, has burned down following a Russian attack.
• He says street fighting is continuing in the city of Severodonetsk, where the situation remains ‘extremely difficult’.
• Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk province, says Ukrainian forces previously in control of just 30 percent of the eastern city have mounted counterattack and recaptured another 20 percent.
• Military experts say the outcome of the battle for Severodonetsk could determine which side has the momentum for a prolonged war of attrition.
• Russia’s RIA news agency quotes Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying Moscow was easily coping with US weapons systems sent to Ukraine and had already destroyed dozens.

Here are all the latest updates:

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9 mins ago (00:43 GMT)

Ukraine plans to restart football leagues from August

The president of Ukraine’s football federation says Kyiv is planning to resume competitive football in the country in August despite being under attack by Russia.

Andriy Pavelko told the Associated Press news agency that the Ukrainian president has approved the decision.

“I spoke with our president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, about how important football is to distract,” Pavelko said in Cardiff.

“We spoke about how football has a very big power to help people think about the future because now people, of course, are not in a good mindset. They’re in the worst mood. We spoke about how it would be possible that football could help us to think about the future.”

That is a future with players being able to take to the field again in Ukraine to provide uplifting sports moments of joy.

“So we took the decision with the president that we would resume the Ukrainian championship in August,” Pavelko said through a translator. “In Ukraine we will play on every level. So the Premier League, and the first and second professional divisions, and women’s championship.

“At all levels we will start in August. The decision was taken with the president of Ukraine.”

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15 mins ago (00:37 GMT)

Street fighting continues in Severodonetsk, says Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s president has described the situation in Severodonetsk as “extremely difficult” and said street fighting was continuing in the eastern city.

“Russian troops again fired at the border areas of the Sumy region, Mykolaiv, cities, and people of the Zaporizhzhia region, and Kharkiv region,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address.

“The situation in Sievierodonetsk, where street fighting continues, remains extremely difficult. It is also difficult in Lysychansk, Marinka, Kurakhove, and other cities and communities of Donbas. Constant air strikes, artillery, and rocket attacks. By today’s morning, the total number of various Russian missiles used against Ukraine is already 2,503.”

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48 mins ago (00:04 GMT)

Zelenskyy slams Russian shelling of Orthodox monastry

Ukraine’s president says the main church at Sviatohirsk Lavra, one of the country’s holiest Orthodox Christian sites, had burned down following Russian shelling.

News of the destruction of part of the monastery came as Russian forces escalated their attacks in the Donetsk region.

“On this day, the 101st day of a full-scale war, in the Donetsk region in the Sviatohirsk Lavra, the Skete of All Saints burned down. It caught fire as a result of the Russian artillery attack,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address.

“They are ready to burn everything: Orthodox churches as well as anything else in Ukraine.”

He claimed three monks at the Sviatohirsk Lavra had been killed in Russian shelling and said 113 Orthodox churches have already been destroyed or damaged by Russia since the start of the invasion in February.

Russian and Ukrainian military officers have blamed each other for the damage at the Sviatohirsk Lavra.

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Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Read all the updates from Saturday, June 4 here.