KYIV听–听Russian forces kept up their bombardment of听肠颈迟颈别蝉听补肠谤辞蝉蝉听Ukraine, with intense shelling of Sumy in the north, cluster bombs targeting Mykolaiv and a missile strike in Odesa in the south, authorities said on Tuesday.
After failing to capture the capital Kyiv at the outset of the invasion on Feb 24,听搁耻蝉蝉颈补听has shifted to a campaign of devastating bombardments to cement and extend its control of听鲍办谤补颈苍别‘s south and east.
鲍办谤补颈苍别听says听搁耻蝉蝉颈补n forces have intensified long-distance听蝉迟谤颈办别蝉听on targets far from the front, killing large numbers of civilians. Moscow says it is hitting military targets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says听搁耻蝉蝉颈补听had fired more than 3,000 cruise missiles and uncountable artillery shells during the five-month conflict.
Over the weekend, Zelenskiy suspended the country’s security chief and top prosecutor, saying they failed to purge听搁耻蝉蝉颈补n spies from their organizations.聽
Despite his disclosure of听搁耻蝉蝉颈补n penetration of the SBU, U.S. officials on Monday said Washington would continue sharing intelligence that U.S. officials have said Kyiv uses to respond to Moscow’s attacks.
This week could be pivotal for European countries concerned about the impact of war and sanctions on听驳补蝉听supplies.
搁耻蝉蝉颈补听is due to reopen its main natural听驳补蝉听pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 1, in coming days after regular maintenance, but Europeans are worried Moscow could keep it closed.
Russia‘s Gazprom, which operates the pipeline, has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee听驳补蝉听蝉耻辫辫濒颈别蝉听because of “extraordinary” circumstances, according to a letter seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the West.聽
HEAVY BOMBARDMENT
In Odesa, a听搁耻蝉蝉颈补n missile strike injured at least four people, burned houses to the ground and set other homes on fire, Oleksii Matsulevych, a spokesman for the regional administration, said on his Telegram channel.
Russian forces targeted Mykolaiv with cluster shells Monday, injuring at least two people and damaging windows and roofs of private houses, the Ukrainian city’s mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said in a social media post.
More than 150 mines and shells had been fired on the Sumy region, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the head of the Sumy regional military administration, said on Telegram.
“They fired mortars, barrel and rocket artillery. The听搁耻蝉蝉颈补ns also opened fire using machine guns and grenade launchers,” he said.
Kyiv hopes the war is at a turning point, with Moscow having exhausted its offensive capabilities in seizing a few small听肠颈迟颈别蝉听in the east, while听鲍办谤补颈苍别聽now fields long-range Western weapons that can strike behind听搁耻蝉蝉颈补n lines.
Kyiv cites a string of successful听蝉迟谤颈办别蝉听on 30听搁耻蝉蝉颈补n logistics and ammunition hubs, which it says are crippling听搁耻蝉蝉颈补‘s artillery-dominated forces that need to transport thousands of shells to the front each day.
In a Facebook post on Monday,听鲍办谤补颈苍别‘s top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, credited U.S.-supplied advanced long-range rocket systems known as HIMARS with helping to “stabilize the situation” through “major听蝉迟谤颈办别蝉听at enemy command points, ammunition and fuel storage warehouses.”
搁耻蝉蝉颈补听said on Monday that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had ordered the military to concentrate on destroying听鲍办谤补颈苍别‘s Western-supplied rockets and artillery.
European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed to provide听鲍办谤补颈苍别聽with another 500 million euros ($504 million) in EU funds for arms, raising the bloc’s support to 2.5 billion euros since Moscow invaded on Feb. 24.聽
In the south,听鲍办谤补颈苍别聽is preparing a counterattack to recapture the biggest swath of territory taken since the invasion.听鲍办谤补颈苍别聽reported destroying听搁耻蝉蝉颈补n missile systems, communications, radar, ammunition depots and armoured vehicles in听蝉迟谤颈办别蝉听in the southern Kherson region.
In the east, Ukrainian forces withdrew at the start of July from Luhansk, one of two provinces听搁耻蝉蝉颈补听claims on behalf of its separatist proxies.
Kyiv says Moscow is planning another assault to capture the last Ukrainian-held pocket of neighboring Donetsk province.
President Vladimir Putin says his assault on听鲍办谤补颈苍别聽is a “special military operation” to demilitarize听搁耻蝉蝉颈补‘s neighbor and root out dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and the West call it an attempt to reconquer a country that broke free of Moscow’s rule in 1991. – Reuters
