Kyiv orders troops to pull out of Sievierodonetsk – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. We will be returning in a few hours to bring you all the latest developments

• Last Ukrainian forces in Sievierodonetsk ordered to withdraw
• Why the west risks condemning Ukraine to slow strangulation
• Zelenskiy urges Glastonbury crowd to help end war in Ukraine

The military channel of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has posted to Telegram to to say that the Russian Federation has opened up criminal cases against large numbers of commanders of brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces. It then goes on to say:

As a result of the shelling of the cities of Donetsk, Dokuchaevsk, Makeevka, Gorlovka and Svetlodarsk, as well as the settlements of Vladimirovka, Zaitsevo, Yasinovka and Ivanovka of the DPR, two civilians were killed, five civilians were injured, 30 houses and civilian infrastructure were damaged, including a school building

As a result of artillery attacks in the cities of Popasnaya and Stakhanov, a civilian was injured in the LPR [the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic], and the equipment of a water pumping station was damaged.

The occupiers begin to build alleged residential buildings. The works are underway in the north-western part, almost on the outskirts of the city. That is, from the approximate direction of a counter-offensive. There is information from Mariupol residents that the occupiers are immediately digging trenches and deploying equipment behind these new buildings.