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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defence minister to continue the offensive in Ukraine after Russia captured the city of Lysychansk, BBC reported.

Mr Putin was shown on Russian TV calling on forces on other fronts to pursue their aims according to "previously approved plans".

The capture means that all of Luhansk region is now in Russian hands.

Earlier the region's Ukrainian governor said the city was abandoned so Russians would not destroy it from a distance.

Soldiers have now moved to new fortified positions, Serhiy Haidai told the BBC.

Losing the city and ceding control of Luhansk to Russia was painful, he said, but added: "This is just one battle we have lost, but not the war."

He pleaded for more weapons from the West to offset the Russian advantage.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged that Ukrainian forces will return to retake Lysychansk "thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons".

Russia has now stepped up its bombardment of cities in the neighbouring Donetsk region, with the areas around Sloviansk and the road between Lysychansk and Bakhmut in particular being targeted, according to Ukrainian forces.

Together the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk form the industrial Donbas area.

Mr Putin was seen telling Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that troops who took part in the campaign to capture Luhansk should "rest and develop their combat capabilities".

"Other military units, including the East group and the West group, must carry out their tasks according to previously approved plans," he said, expressing the hope that on those fronts they would have similar success to that in Luhansk region, according to BBC.

Just before he launched the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, Mr Putin recognised all of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states. Russian proxy forces began an insurgency there in 2014 - the year Russia also annexed the Crimean peninsula.

Just over a week ago, Russian troops captured Severodonetsk - which Russian bombardment has reduced to ruins.

The CPN (Maoist Centre) leaders have suggested that the party should forge an alliance with the CPN-UML in the federal and provincial assembly elections.

During the Central Executive Committee of the party held at the Pragya Bhuwan in Kathmandu, leaders suggested Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to start discussions and debates for the left alliance with the UML.

Leaders were of the opinion that the Nepali Congress betrayed the Maoist Centre in the local level elections.

"The Maoist honestly cast votes for the Congress candidates in the local level polls. But, the Congress did not cast ballots for us," central member Ram Kumar Sharma said.

The leaders said that the party should forge an alliance with the Congress only after reaching an agreement.

"The Congress should be given 50 percent seats if the parties forge alliance in the upcoming elections again. Remaining 50 percent should be given to other parties of the coalition," leader Sharma said.

Similarly, during the meeting, the leaders have said that the Citizenship Bill should be endorsed at the earliest.

Newly appointed ministers of the Janata Samajbadi Party took the oath of office and secrecy on Monday.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba appointed Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav as the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Mohammad Istiyak Rai as the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport and Pradip Yadav the Minister for Forest and Environment.

President Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly appointed ministers in the presence of Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Deuba and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Timilsena, amidst a special ceremony at Sheetal Niwas this evening.

The party had recalled its three of four ministers from the government this morning.

Earlier, the CPN (Unified Socialist) had reshuffled four of its ministers in the government.

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has called for forming a parliamentary committee to investigate the incident of non-availability of the CCTV footage at the Finance Ministry in course of the budget formulation.

Seeking special time in the meeting of the House of Representatives today, the leader of the main opposition in parliament challenged the government to have this episode investigated and demanded that the Prime Minister should furnish a reply in this connection.

The UML Chair and former Prime Minister claimed that the government’s works in connection to topics such as the nation’s economy and foreign affairs were inappropriate.

He also demanded that the government should make matters clear regarding what has been happening concerning the US State Partnership Program (SPP).