KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces fired cruise missiles on the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Odesa and shelled the jap Donetsk area early Wednesday, killing at the least six folks and damaging dozens of houses, regional Ukrainian officers stated.
Russian forces have stepped up aerial strikes of their almost 16-month conflict, a Ukrainian navy spokesman stated, whereas the nation’s armed forces have reported restricted beneficial properties within the early phases of a counteroffensive to take again the almost one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory that’s below Russian management.
In Odesa, three meals warehouse workers have been killed in a strike that additionally broken houses, outlets and cafes within the metropolis’s downtown, the regional administration stated on Fb. One other 13 folks have been injured.
Search groups have been searching for doable survivors below the rubble of the warehouse, it stated.
The assault on the port metropolis, launched from the Black Sea, was the second in every week and concerned 4 Kalibr cruise missiles, three of which have been intercepted by air defenses, the administration stated.
In jap Ukraine, Donetsk province governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram that at the least three folks died after shelling destroyed seven houses and broken dozens extra within the cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka.
Ten cities and villages alongside the entrance line in Donetsk have been struck as Kyiv’s troops slowly advance, in line with Ukraine’s presidential workplace.
A missile hit the Ukrainian-controlled metropolis of Kramatorsk, the place Kyiv’s forces are headquartered, killing two civilians and wounding two others whereas damaging 29 houses, the presidential workplace stated. Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka killed one civilian, with 57 homes broken, it added.
Andriy Kovalov, a spokesperson for the Basic Workers of Ukraine’s armed forces, stated the Russian navy elevated missile and aerial strikes as Kyiv’s forces intensify assaults alongside the conflict’s 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) entrance line and declare some modest beneficial properties firstly of their counteroffensive.
In a briefing, he stated strikes on the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kirovohrad areas, along with the Odesa area, concerned Kh-22 cruise missiles, sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles, and Iranian-made Shahed drones. 9 have been intercepted.
Kovalov stated Ukrainian forces had made advances in a number of sections and preventing was persevering with in or close to at the least two Donetsk province communities.
Britain’s Ministry of Protection, which has often issued updates on the battle, wrote on Twitter that southern Ukraine “has typically been extra permissible for Russian air operations” in contrast with different components of the entrance.
Individually, the mayor of the central metropolis of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, stated the demise toll from a Russian strike that hit an condo constructing a day earlier had risen to 12.
Ukrainian authorities continued to rescue folks from the flooded areas of southern Ukraine’s partially Russian-occupied Kherson area following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam final week.
A complete of 28 settlements on the Ukrainian-held western financial institution of the Dnieper River stay below water, and almost 2,800 folks have been taken to security to date, the presidential workplace stated, including that the rescue effort was happening below relentless Russian shelling.
The Ukrainian-controlled areas of the Kherson area got here below artillery fireplace 57 instances over the previous 24 hours, the presidential workplace stated.
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Related Press author Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.
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Observe AP’s protection of the conflict in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
