Russia retaliates with ‘massive strikes’ as Ukraine’s counteroffensive gains ground
- Ukraine is fighting to secure territory reclaimed from occupying Russian forces in a swift counteroffensive
- Russia said its air, rocket and artillery forces were carrying out massive strikes in ‘all operational directions’
Russia said it was carrying out “massive strikes” across the Ukrainian frontline and accused Kyiv’s soldiers of abusing civilians in territories recaptured in a dramatic counteroffensive.
Moscow’s retaliation came after it was forced to pull back troops from swathes of the northeast, particularly in the Kharkiv region, following Kyiv’s lightning assault to wrest back terrain.
The territorial shifts marked one of Russia’s biggest setbacks since its troops were repelled from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly seven-month-long war, yet Moscow signalled it was no closer to agreeing to a negotiated peace.
“Air, rocket and artillery forces are carrying out massive strikes on units of the Ukrainian armed forces in all operational directions,” the Russian defence ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict on Tuesday.
“High-precision” strikes were launched on Ukrainian positions around Sloviansk and Konstantinovka in the eastern Donetsk region, it added.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Wednesday that Russian forces had launched three missile strikes, 33 air strikes and fired 58 rocket artillery strikes at military and civilian targets over the past 24 hours.