Russia has intensified its assault of Ukraine, launching missiles at Odesa in the south, using banned cluster bombs to target Mykolaiv, and heavily bombarding Sumy in the north.
Russian bombardment across the nation over the last 24 hours has resulted in at least two civilian deaths and 15 injuries, according to Ukraine’s presidential office.
According to Oleksii Matsulevych, a spokesman for the regional administration, an attack in Odesa resulted in at least four injuries, the burning down of dwellings, and the setting of fire to further homes.
Seven Kalibr cruise missiles launched by Russian soldiers into the area struck homes, a school, and a community centre.
According to Oleksandr Senkevich, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Russian soldiers fired cluster rounds at the city, injuring at least two persons and breaking windows and roofs of private homes.
Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the head of the military administration for the Sumy region, reported that more than 150 mines and shells had been fired on the area.
They used weaponry, including mortars, barrels, and rockets. He added that the Russians also started firing with machine guns and grenade launchers.
Attacks on the town of Bilenke near Odesa, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, had a legal military purpose and “destroyed stocks of ammunition for weapons provided by the United States and European countries.”
According to Serhiy Bratchuk, speaker of the Odesa regional administration, “these strikes on peaceful individuals have one goal: to scare the population and the authorities and keep them in perpetual anxiety.”
According to Vitaliy Barabash, the commander of the military administration in Avdiyivka, Russian troops have made fruitless attempts to move closer to the city of Avdiyivka, which is located north of Donetsk.
He claimed that after the Russians had been attacking for several days, Ukrainian soldiers had driven them back.
He stated that enemy casualties were far greater than ours and included roughly 40 people.
Moscow’s offensive capacity has been depleted by the capture of a few small cities in the east, and Kiev now has access to long-range Western weapons that can attack from inside Russian lines, giving rise to optimism that the war is nearing a tipping point.
Kyiv cites a number of successful attacks on 30 Russian ammunition and logistics centres, which it claims are weakening Russia’s troops, which are dominated by artillery and require the daily transportation of thousands of rounds to the front.
General Valery Zaluzhny, head of Ukraine’s armed forces, credited HIMARS, advanced long-range rocket systems supplied by the United States, in a Facebook post on Monday for playing a significant role in “stabilising the situation” through “significant strikes at enemy command points, ammunition and fuel storage warehouses.”
Russia said on Monday that Ukraine’s Western-provided rockets and artillery had been targeted for destruction by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The European Union’s foreign ministers decided on Monday to provide Ukraine another 500 million euros ($504 million) in EU funding for armaments, bringing the total amount of help given to Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion on February 24 to 2.5 billion euros.
Ukraine is preparing a counterattack in the south to reclaim the largest chunk of land lost since the invasion.
In airstrikes in the southern Kherson region, Ukraine claimed to have destroyed Russian missile systems, communications, radar, ammo stores, and armoured vehicles.
Beginning in the first week of July, Ukrainian soldiers left Luhansk in the east, one of the two provinces that Russia claims on behalf of its rebel allies.
According to Kyiv, Moscow is preparing a new offensive to seize the final Ukrainian-held territory in the neighbouring province of Donetsk.
After failing to take Kiev in the early stages of the invasion, Putin’s forces have switched to a campaign of destructive strikes to expand their authority over Ukraine’s south and east.
According to Ukraine, Russian forces have increased long-range attacks on locations distant from the front, killing numerous people in the process. According to Moscow, it is striking military targets.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, during the five-month fight, Russia launched almost 3,000 cruise missiles and an untold number of artillery shells.
The missile attacks occurred as the British military expressed concern that Russia is having “increasingly acute” difficulties maintaining its force numbers in its gruelling battle of attrition that started with the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Russia “has struggled to sustain effective offensive combat power since the commencement of the invasion, and this difficulty is likely growing increasingly acute,” according to the British Ministry of Defence (MoD), as Moscow attempts to annex the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
While Russia might yet acquire more territory, the moderator continued, “their operational tempo and pace of advance is likely to be very modest without a large operational pause for reorganisation and refit.”
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, visited Washington at Jill Biden’s invitation and met Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the recent assaults.
Mr. Blinken praised her for her work with citizens suffering from trauma and other effects of the war while assuring her of the US commitment to Ukraine.
Zelensky suspended the nation’s security head and top prosecutor over the weekend after alleging that they had not successfully removed Russian spies from their institutions.
U.S. officials said on Monday that Washington would continue supplying intelligence that they have stated Kyiv used to counterattack Moscow’s attacks, notwithstanding his disclosure of Russian penetration of the SBU.
For European nations concerned about the effect of conflict and sanctions on gas supplies, this week could be crucial.
After routine maintenance, Russia’s main natural gas pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 1, is scheduled to resume in the coming days. However, Europeans are concerned Moscow might decide to keep the pipeline shut.
According to a letter seen by Reuters, Russia’s Gazprom, which runs the pipeline, has informed clients in Europe that it cannot guarantee gas deliveries due to “exceptional” conditions, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the West.