Critical Ukrainian infrastructure was hit by Russian strikes on the western region of Lviv early on Thursday, a state official said.

The head of the Lviv regional state administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, said on Telegram there were no casualties.

“During the air alert, a critical infrastructure object was hit in the Lviv region. There are no victims or victims. The fire was extinguished,” he said.

The situation in Luhansk remained difficult, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said, without mentioning any retreats in eastern Ukraine.

Russian strikes hit ‘critical infrastructure’ in Ukraine’s western Lviv region

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Russia is sending heavy equipment and mobilised troops into the Luhansk region but Ukrainian forces continue to defend the eastern Ukrainian region, its governor, Serhiy Haidai said.

The Russian defence ministry claimed earlier its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front of Luhansk. It said Ukrainian troops had retreated in the face of Russian attacks, but did not say in which part of the region.

Mr Haidai said Russia’s claim that Ukrainian troops had pulled back “does not correspond to reality”.

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has admitted that his mercenary group is facing difficulties in Ukraine.

“The number of Wagner units will decrease, and we will also not be able to carry out the scope of tasks that we would like to,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said, amid growing evidence that his political influence in the Kremlin is waning.

The UN general assembly will vote next week on a draft resolution stressing “the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

The UN will, not for the first time, demand Moscow withdraw its troops and calls for a halt to hostilities.

The vote will happen as Ukraine marks one year since Russia’s invasion. – Guardian