The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
10 people die after Russian missile salvo
Russian shelling has killed at least 10 Ukrainian civilians and wounded 20 others in a day, the office of Ukraine’s president reported, as the country worked to recover from an earlier wave of missile strikes and drone attacks.
The new casualties included the deaths of at least two civilians in the southern city of Kherson, which Ukrainian troops recaptured in November, and two more in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province.
The missiles and self-propelled drones that Russian forces fired on Thursday hit deeper into Ukrainian territory, killing at least 11 people.
The bombardment followed announcements by the USA and Germany of plans to ship powerful tanks to help Ukraine defend itself.
Other western countries said they would also share modern tanks from their stockpiles.
Moscow has bristled at the move, and accused western nations of entering a new level of confrontation with Russia.
Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, of the eastern Donetsk region, said the Russian military used phosphorus munitions in shelling the village of Zvanivka.
The village is located about 20kms north of Bakhmut, a city that has become the focus of a gruelling battle in recent months.
The shelling also damaged apartment buildings and two schools in the nearby town of Vuhledar, Mr Kyrylenko said.
The governor of the neighbouring Luhansk region, Serhii Haidai, said Ukrainian shelling hit two Russian bases in the occupied towns of Kreminna and Rubizhne, killing and wounding “dozens” of Russian soldiers.
His claim could not be independently verified.
Further south, Russian troops resumed shelling the town of Nikopol, across the Dnieper from the Russia-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, officials said.
Separately yesterday, Russian authorities took new steps in their effort to graft four Ukrainian provinces on to Russia’s already vast territory.
They said the provinces would switch from the time zone that covers Kyiv to the one in Moscow.