Russian forces fired cruise missiles at the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and shelled the eastern Donetsk region early on Wednesday, killing at least six people and damaging dozens of homes, regional Ukrainian officials said.Russian forces have stepped up aerial strikes in their nearly 16-month war, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.
The country’s armed forces, meanwhile, have reported limited gains in the early stages of a counteroffensive to take back the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory that is under Russian control.
The grinding Ukrainian advance is pressing slowly ahead, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Wednesday. Western analysts and military officials say the effort to dislodge entrenched, powerfully armed and large numbers of Russian troops could take years. Ukrainian troops have advanced 200-500 metres (650-1,600 feet) at various sections of the front line around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut and 300-350 metres (980-1,150 feet) in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Maliar claimed.Ukrainian forces have managed to make gains despite the Russian edge in artillery and air power, she said.
It was not possible to verify the battlefield claims.In Odesa, three food warehouse employees were killed in a strike that also damaged homes, shops and cafes in the city’s downtown, the regional administration said on Facebook. Another 13 people were injured.
Search teams were looking for possible survivors under the rubble of the warehouse, it said.The attack on the port city, launched from the Black Sea, was the second in a week and involved four Kalibr cruise missiles, three of which were intercepted by air defences, the administration said. In eastern Ukraine, Donetsk province governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram that at least three people died after shelling destroyed seven homes and damaged dozens more in the cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka.
Ten towns and villages along the front line in Donetsk were struck as Kyiv’s troops slowly advance, according to Ukraine’s presidential office. A missile hit the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk, where Kyiv’s forces are headquartered, killing two civilians and wounding two others while damaging 29 homes, the presidential office said. Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka killed one civilian, with 57 houses damaged, it added.