Russian forces ‘stepping up attacks in eastern Donbas’

Cars pass by destroyed Russian tanks as fighting rages in the Donbas (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Heavy fighting is raging in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region where Russian forces have stepped up their bombardment beyond the frontlines, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.

Moscow faces stiff Ukrainian resistance to its effort to encircle the area around the city of Sievierodonetsk and consolidate Russian control of the Luhansk region — the main focus but not the only Russian effort in the campaign to capture the Donbas, the ministry said.