Russian shells kill 3 civilians, hurt 20, Ukraine officials say
KYIV, Ukraine — At least three Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 20 others wounded in the latest artillery barrages from the Russian military, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
The eastern region of Donetsk, one of the two provinces making up the country’s heartland of Donbas that has been the focus of a Russian offensive, has faced the most intense shelling.
Regional officials said at least three people died and another 13 were wounded by Russian shelling that hit numerous towns and villages in the Donetsk region during the last 24 hours.
The barrage has damaged dozens of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
In the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, seven civilians were wounded in the latest Russian shelling that hit buildings and an area near a bus stop early Monday.
The Russian forces also struck several other regions of Ukraine with rockets and artillery.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Monday that Russian warplanes have struck Ukrainian army positions in the southern Kherson and Donetsk regions.
He added that the Russian air force also hit a facility in the Kharkiv region, killing at least 100 and wounding 50 “mercenaries” from Poland and Germany. His claims couldn’t be independently verified.
In other developments Monday:
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to expand military cooperation with the country’s allies, noting that Moscow is ready to offer them its most advanced weapons.
Speaking at an annual arms show outside Moscow that caters to foreign customers, Putin said that Russia’s arms exports play an important role in the development of a “multipolar world,” the term used by the Kremlin to describe its efforts to offset what it perceives as U.S. global domination.
Putin hailed the Russian military’s action in Ukraine, which has triggered massive Western sanctions, and thanked Moscow’s allies for their support.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the heads of three regional branches of Ukraine’s top security agency, SBU, in the Kyiv, Lviv and Tarnopil regions. Zelenskyy’s office didn’t elaborate on the reasons behind the move.
Last month, he dismissed SBU chief Ivan Bakanov and a chief prosecutor, saying their departments had too many people who faced accusations of collaborating with the Russians.
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, speaking in an interview with Singapore’s CNA television, said that “no one in the world can take a neutral stand in that war,” adding that “you can either be on the aggressor’s side or the one who has come under attack, there is no other choice.”