Ukraine said that Russia could carry out an attack
Kyiv, July 17 (Reuters). Russia is preparing for another offensive against Ukraine, Ukrainian military said.
According to Kyiv, Russian rockets and shells have smashed cities in recent days, killing dozens of people.
“These are not just air and sea missile strikes,” Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Vadym Skibitsky said on Saturday. “Throughout the entire contact, we see shelling along the entire front line. Tactical aviation and attack helicopters are actively proposed.
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“In fact, there is supposed activity of the entire front line … Preparations are now underway for the next stage of the attack.”
Ukrainian citizens have said Russia is regrouping units to capture the symbolically important city of Slovyansk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
The UK Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that Russia is strengthening its defensive posture in the occupied territories in southern Ukraine. read more
Ukraine has said at least 40 people have been killed in Russian shelling in the southern part of the region in the past three days as the war started by Russia on February 24, Vladimir Putin, escalated.
Three people, including a 70-year-old woman, were injured in a rocket attack on the city of Suguev in the northeast of the Kharkiv region on Friday evening, Governor Oleg Sinekhupov said. read more
“Three people, why? Why? Why did Putin go crazy? said Raisa Shaboval, 83, a distraught resident sitting on the ruins of her house.
In the south, more than 50 Russian Grad missiles hit the city on the Dnieper River, Nikopol, killing two people who were found under the rubble, according to Governor Valentin Resnichenko.
Moscow declares the invasion a “special military operation” and uses precision-guided weapons to protect Ukraine’s sensitive information and protect its own security. He repeatedly denied targeting civilians.
Kyiv and the West say the conflict is an unprovoked reworking of the country, restored from Moscow’s rule after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has instructed military units to step up an operation to prevent Ukrainian attacks on Ukrainian production and in other regions of Europe where they can determine a strike on civilian infrastructure or an outreach to Kyiv, the ministry said in a statement.
His comments appear to have been in direct response to what Kyiv claims to have recently been a series of successful attacks on 30 Russian logistics and weapons centers using Western multiple rocket launchers.
The strikes are to cut major supply lines and significant revenues for Russia’s offensive forces, an official spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced Friday. read more
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Reuters report; Written by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing: William Mallard
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