Russia is reacting to the Ukrainian counteroffensive with airstrikes in various areas of Ukraine. Tonight's shelling has left three dead in the Black Sea city of Odessa and three in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials confirmed.
In addition, six people died on Tuesday, victims of a shelling by the Russian army, while they were driving in the northeast of the country, near the border with Russia, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office said on Wednesday. At the time of the attack, the car was driving through a forest near the town of Seredyna-Bouda, in the Sumy region. The victims included two forestry workers and two civilians.
The three killed in Odessa, which suffered attacks overnight, were in a retail chain warehouse that caught fire when explosives hit a shopping mall, an educational institution, a residential complex, food outlets and shops, according to sources. Ukrainian officers.
Videos and photos released by a local official showed destroyed buildings, and firefighters battling the flames in what appeared to be a warehouse.
Odessa, once a popular holiday destination for many Ukrainians and Russians and whose historic center was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in Danger in January, has been bombarded several times since the start of the Russian invasion.
Also this morning, the governor of the Donetsk region explained that two people had died in the city of Kramatorsk and one in the industrial city of Kostiantynivka, due to a fire that caused serious damage to various facilities in the area, especially residential buildings. .
The attacks take place the day after Russia responded to the counteroffensive with a bombardment in the city of Krivói Rog, in the center-south of the country and Zelensky's homeland, which caused at least eleven deaths and 28 injuries.
At the same time that Russia is carrying out this onslaught, the Ukrainian army, backed by Western arms supplies, is carrying out the offensive on various parts of the front in the south and east.
While Ukraine claims to be "advancing" with the recapture of seven villages, Russian President Vladimir Putin, by contrast, claimed on Tuesday that Kiev's forces are being overthrown and have suffered losses close to a "catastrophic" level.
According to military analysts quoted by Agence France Press, Ukraine has not yet launched the bulk of its forces in its counteroffensive, and is testing the front line for weak points. Currently, these operations seem to be concentrated in three main axes: Bakhmout, the Vougledar area (southeast) and the Orikhiv area (south).
In the last three days, the Ukrainians have recaptured about three square kilometers of territory and have advanced in some areas up to 1.4 kilometers deep, Ukrainian General Staff Andrii Kovalev said on Wednesday.
Moscow for its part claimed responsibility for the first time on Tuesday for having captured German Leopard tanks and American Bradley armored vehicles, provided by the West.
