Ukraine war: Five things you need to know this weekend
Soldiers in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine, are digging in Saturday, amid heavy shelling.
The city is bracing itself for possible street fighting as Russian forces clash with Ukrainian troops in Sievierodonetsk, which lies directly opposite across the Donets River.
Ukrainian forces were seen by AFP journalists digging trenches to serve as firing posts and erecting barricades with barbed wire and branches in central Lysychansk, a strategic city in the Donbas region.
Burnt-out cars were also being dragged by tractors in an attempt to block off streets, with the din of fighting clearly audible from the other side of the river.
"There could be shooting here soon," said local resident Jaconda as she tried to convince a reluctant man to leave his home. "You can end up surrounded," she warned. "There would be no life here, but if you are evacuated, you will at least be safe and sound."
Earlier in the week, a Russian missile strike on the city's House of Culture left four people dead and burnt down the Stalin-era building.
A mother and daughter were killed, along with a young man and a pregnant woman. All had been sheltering there, having lost their homes in the fighting.
Hundreds gathered in Kyiv Saturday for the funeral of Roman Ratushny, a Ukrainian civic and environmental activist, who died in battle.
Huge crowds flocked to Kyiv's Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery for the 24-year-old's ceremony, with many carrying flowers and Ukrainian flags on their backs.
Ratushny, a scout, was killed during a combat operation on 9 June near Izyum, in the Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian forces are facing the Russian army.
A gathering is scheduled for midday Saturday on Independence Square in the Ukrainian capital, after Ratushny will be
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