Ukraine gears up for fresh Russian assault

KYIV • Ukraine is expecting a fresh assault by Russian ground forces, following widespread shelling that has killed more than 30 people, as Kyiv's Western allies brace themselves for a worsening of the global energy crisis if Russia cuts its supply of oil and gas.

Ukraine's general staff said that the shelling across the country amounted to preparations for an intensification of hostilities, as Russia sought to seize Donetsk province and control the whole of Ukraine's Donbas industrial heartland.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had carried out 34 air strikes since Saturday.

One hit a five-storey apartment building, killing 31 people and trapping dozens.

Moscow denies targeting civilians, but many Ukrainian cities, towns and villages have been left in ruins.

And the human cost of Russia's invasion, Europe's biggest conflict since World War II and now in its fifth month, is mounting.

Russian state news agency Tass reported that a Ukrainian attack on Monday on the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine's southern Kherson region killed at least seven people and left some 70 wounded.

Unverified footage on social media showed smoke and sparks, followed by an immense fireball erupting into the night sky. Pictures showed rubble strewn across streets and scorched buildings.

Officials from the Russian-installed administration said Ukraine struck with US-supplied Himars missiles that destroyed warehouses containing saltpeter, a chemical compound that can be used to make fertiliser or gunpowder, resulting in a large explosion.

Ukrainian officials said their forces had destroyed an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka.

"There are already seven dead for sure," Tass quoted Mr Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed Kakhovka District military-civilian administration, as saying.

"There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses," said Mr Leontyev.

Mr Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb 24, claiming it was a "special military operation" to demilitarise its neighbour and rid it of dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and the West say it is an imperialist land grab by Mr Putin.

After Mr Putin failed to quickly take the capital Kyiv, his forces turned to the Donbas, where its two provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk have been partly controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

Mr Putin aims to hand control of the Donbas to the separatists and on Monday eased rules for Ukrainians to acquire Russian citizenship.

Ukraine's allies have supplied Kyiv with arms and imposed tough sanctions on Moscow.

Moscow, in turn, has used its vast oil and gas reserves to fund its war chest.

But fault lines are beginning to emerge among Kyiv's allies, as nations struggle with soaring energy and food prices and rising inflation.

Europe's dependence on Russian energy was preoccupying policymakers and businesses as the biggest pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany began 10 days of annual maintenance.

Governments, markets and companies are worried that the shutdown might be extended because of the war.

Mr Zelensky warned that Russia would perceive exceptions to sanctions as a sign of weakness.

He said Moscow would now try to "completely stop the gas supply to Europe at the most urgent moment. This is what we need to prepare for now. This is what is being provoked now".

REUTERS