Russian forces attacked Ukraine with drones and missiles overnight, killing at least six people and wounding 11 more in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, local officials reported.
On Saturday afternoon, a further strike on Kharkiv killed another person and left one more person wounded, said Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov. Another missile strike killed a civilian in the southern Odesa region, its governor Oleh Kiper reported.
Governor of the Kharkiv region Oleh Syniehubov said missile strikes on the city damaged residential buildings, a petrol station, a kindergarten, a cafe, a shop and cars.
Overall, Russia fired 32 Iranian-made Shahed drones and six missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to the air force commander.
Ukrainian air defence forces shot down three cruise missiles and 28 drones, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk said in a statement.
“Russian killers continue to terrorise Ukrainians and attack Kharkiv and other peaceful cities,” he said.
The Russian military has not commented on the strikes but said that Ukraine on Saturday morning fired Vampire rockets at Russia.
All 10 of them were shot down over Russia’s border region of Belgorod by air defence systems, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
On the ground in Ukraine, Russian forces were advancing, and pushing back against them was “difficult”, said Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Syrskyi said the situation in the Bakhmut area in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region was particularly challenging.
He said Russian forces are carrying out offensive operations day and night, using assault groups with the support of armoured vehicles, as well as assaults on foot.
Fierce battles are taking place east of the town of Chasiv Yar, which Ukraine still controls and which is located near the occupied city of Bakhmut.
Russian forces are trying to break through defensive lines there, Syrskyi said on the messaging app Telegram, adding that “Chasiv Yar remains under our control, all enemy attempts to break through to the settlement have failed”.
Near Avdiivka, another city in the Donetsk region held by the Russians, the fiercest battles were occurring in Pervomaiskyi and Vodyanyi, according to the official.
He also said the situation is tense on the southern and north-eastern parts of the front line.