Ukraine war: Kyiv claims ‘powerful’ strikes on Russian units ahead of counter-offensive

Kyiv’s military said it was launching “powerful” strikes on Russian positions in southeastern Ukraine ahead of a planned counter-offensive, as Moscow’s forces killed at least two civilians and injured 10 others in a missile strike on the northeastern Kharkiv province.

In recent days “we managed to destroy artillery installations, tanks, armoured vehicles, enemy air defence systems. I mean, our work on clearing out that strip, that frontal strip of the left bank [of the Dnipro river], is very powerful,” Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk said on Tuesday.

Reports suggest both sides have stepped up combat activity over the last week in Kherson region, where Russian forces control land on the eastern [left] shore of the Dnipro and Ukraine holds the opposite bank after liberating the area late last year.

“Our military visit the left bank very often, conducting raids. The Ukrainian armed forces are working, and working very effectively,” said Yuriy Sobolevskiy, deputy head of the administration in Kyiv-held parts of Kherson.

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“The results will come as they did on the right bank of the Kherson region when, thanks to a complex and long operation, they were able to liberate our territories with minimal losses for our military. The same thing happens now on the left bank.”

Ukrainian officials and western analysts say Russia’s invasion force is bracing for Kyiv’s bid to liberate more territory in the coming months, and has now switched to a defensive posture in many of the areas it holds.

The main exception is Bakhmut, the road and rail hub in the partly occupied Donetsk region that has been reduced to ruins by months of fierce fighting.

Moscow says its forces are gradually seizing control of what remains of the small city, while Ukraine insists it is standing firm in key areas and doing heavy damage to some of Russia’s best combat units.

Ukrainian officials said at least two civilians, both women, were killed and 10 people hurt when Russian missiles hit a museum in the town of Kupiansk in Kharkiv region. Rescue workers were searching for people who were feared buried in the rubble.

“Kupiansk, the city centre, the local history museum. The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“We have no right to forget about this for a single second. We must and will respond,” he added.

Mr Zelenskiy held talks with his top defence, intelligence and government officials on Tuesday, when his office said they discussed the battlefield situation, Russia’s likely next moves and the supply of arms and ammunition to units of Ukraine’s military.

Russia again threatened to withdraw from an agreement that facilitates exports of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which will be up for renewal next month.

The defence ministry in Moscow said Kyiv’s military had launched unmanned naval drones twice at Russian positions on the coast of occupied Crimea from the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, where grain shipments are being dispatched.

“The terrorist actions of the Kyiv regime jeopardise the next extension of the grain deal after May 18th this year,” the ministry warned.

Moscow also accuses western states of ignoring parts of the deal – which was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July – that would facilitate Russian agricultural exports.

“Despite the fact that so much time has passed, [the deal] has not yet been implemented, it has not come together as a package … So for now circumstances don’t add up in favour of this deal,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.