Ukrainian forces could pull back from Sievierodonetsk

Both it and Lysychansk are wedged between Russian forces to the east, north and south — in the small portion of the Luhansk region that Russia has not yet claimed control of. Moscow also appears to hold about half of Donetsk region that rounds out the Donbas.

West of those cities, medics worked in the Ukrainian-held town of Bakhmut to care for the wounded, as the fighting threatened to encroach.

“It seems to be getting a bit worse. The number of patients that we’re seeing is getting to be more and more, and it seems that the fighting is getting closer to this area,” said Danial Rebar, a paramedic from Detroit and a former U.S. serviceman who has been volunteering in Ukraine for the past seven weeks as a combat medic.