Russia said the Kremlin's priority is to liberate the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine from Kiev's control in recent hours. Meanwhile, the latter confirmed that the advance of Russian armed forces is taking place unabated, with the army and military assets already on the outskirts of the town of Severodoneck, capital of Lugansk oblast. 

"Our top priority is the liberation of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which are now recognized by the Russian Federation as independent states. This is not annexation, but a military operation requested by the two People's Republics. Our goal is obviously to push the Ukrainian army and battalions out of these regions", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with French broadcaster "Tfi".

Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky visited soldiers at the front in Kharkiv in recent days, admitting that "conditions in the Donbass are indescribably difficult. There are missile and air attacks. We are protecting our land in the way allowed by our current defense resources. We are doing everything to increase them. And we will increase them", because the "Donbass will be Ukraine, and even if Russia brings destruction and suffering, we will rebuild every town, every community" and "there will be no alternative to our Ukrainian flags".