Lviv, May 20 (AP) Russian forces on Friday continued attacking the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk in Ukraine's eastern region of Luhansk to try to cut the area off from the rest of Ukraine, the region's governor said.

Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai told The Associated Press Russian forces were focused on the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway, which he said is the only road for evacuating people and delivering humanitarian supplies.

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“The road is extremely important because it's the only connection to other regions of the country,” he said via email. “The Russians are trying to cut us off from it, to encircle the Luhansk region.”

Russian forces are constantly shelling the road from multiple directions, but Ukrainian armoured transports are still able to get through, Haidai added.

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One of Friday's attacks was on a school in Severodonetsk sheltering more than 200 people, many of them children. Three adults were killed, Haidai said on Telegram.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday, “the liberation of the Luhansk People's Republic is nearing completion."(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)