Russia pounds Ukraine’s cities, kills more civilians, as it steps up operations
- Putin’s rockets and missiles killed at least 16 more civilians on Saturday, the latest fatalities in a series of fatal bombardments on urban areas
- Moscow’s defence ministry says it has given ‘instructions to further intensify the actions of units in all operational areas’
Ukrainian authorities across the country reported new Russian missile strikes and shelling on Saturday that killed at least 16 more civilians, deaths that came after Russia’s top military announced it was stepping up its onslaught against its neighbour.
The Russian Defence Ministry said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu gave “instructions to further intensify the actions of units in all operational areas, to exclude the possibility of the Kyiv regime launching massive rocket and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure and residents of settlements in Donbas and other regions”.
The new Russian attacks hit areas in the north, the east and the south of Ukraine. Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest city, has seen especially severe bombardments in recent days, with officials and local commanders voicing fears that a second full-scale Russian assault on the northern city may be looming.
At least three civilians were killed and three more were injured on Saturday in a predawn Russian rocket strike on the northern city of Chuhuiv, close to Kharkiv, 120km (75 miles) from the Russian border, a regional police chief said.
Serhiy Bolvinov, the deputy head of Kharkiv’s regional police force, wrote on Facebook that the rockets hit a residential building, a school and administrative buildings.
“The bodies of three people were found under the rubble. Three more were injured. The victims are civilians,” Bolvinov added.
