Russian troops storm city amid eastern Ukraine bombardments

Ukrainian servicemen walk past a building heavily damaged in a Russian bombing in Bakhmut (Francisco Seco/AP)

Russian and Ukrainian troops engaged in close-quarter combat in an eastern Ukraine city on Sunday as Moscow’s soldiers, supported by intense shelling, attempted to gain strategic footholds in the region while facing fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Ukrainian regional officials reported that Russian forces were “storming” the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, where the fighting has knocked out power and mobile phone services and terrorised civilians who have not fled.