Fighting intensified in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine as Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged artillery fire on Saturday. Previously, Russian cruise missiles exploded in several Ukrainian cities, hitting a space rocket complex and damaging nearby residential buildings.
Workers cleared the area of downtown Dnipro, where officials reported three people were killed and 15 others injured in the missile attack, Governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Telegram. The Ukrainian Air Force said it intercepted four more missiles fired at the city.
The latest fighting comes as the Russian Defense Minister ordered his troops operating in Ukraine to “further intensify” their military operations. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the move was aimed at preventing strikes in eastern Ukraine and other Russian-held territories in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.
The statement said that Shoigu “has given the necessary instructions to further intensify the actions of the groups in all operational areas in order to exclude the possibility of the Kyiv regime launching massive rocket and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure and inhabitants of the settlements of Donbass and other regions”.
The comments came after US officials released photo intelligence claiming Iran may be preparing to supply Russia with several hundred weapons-capable unmanned drones. Unmanned aerial drones could be used in the war in Ukraine.
In other developments, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said U.S. rocket systems supplied to Ukraine had a big impact on the fight against Russia, helping Ukrainian forces hold off the Russian military in the Donbass region. .
It comes as thousands of people have fled the area since the war began in late February as civilian areas come under attack. Russia has denied targeting civilians in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden called Russia’s war in Ukraine an example “of efforts to undermine the rules-based order”. Biden’s comments came during bilateral meetings with Saudi leaders on Saturday.
Meanwhile, finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrialized nations ended their meeting in Indonesia on Saturday without reaching an agreement on a US proposal to cap the price of Russian oil.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the proposal “underscores the importance of cooperation on a Russian oil price cap to restrain Putin’s war machine revenue and limit the impact of the Russia’s war on energy prices”.
Grain exports
Despite the fighting, both sides have indicated signs of progress towards an agreement to end the blockade of Ukrainian grain.
Turkey, which has been mediating the effort, said a deal could be signed next week.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said a final document had been prepared and needed to be completed “as soon as possible”, according to The Associated Press.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday there was “broad agreement” on a deal between Russia and Ukraine, with Turkey and the United Nations, to export millions of tonnes of grain Ukrainians stuck in silos since the Russian invasion on February 24.
More than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain are stored in silos at the Black Sea port of Odessa, and dozens of ships are blocked due to the Russian blockade. Turkey said it has 20 merchant ships on standby in the region that could be quickly loaded and shipped to world markets.
VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this story. Some information for this report comes from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
