Ukraine repels Kherson attack; civilian death toll rises

KYIV • Ukrainian forces said they had beaten back a Russian attack in the southern region of Kherson, while the death toll from Russian shelling of Kharkiv city in Ukraine's north-east climbed as the nearly six-month-long war grinds on without let-up.

"Russian forces have achieved only minimal advances and, in some cases, we have advanced, since last month," Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video.

"What we are seeing is a 'strategic deadlock'."

Russian bombardment of a residential area of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-biggest city, on Wednesday evening killed 12 people, the local emergencies service said.

"This is a devious and cynical strike on civilians with no justification," Ukrainian President Volo-dymyr Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine.

Kharkiv resident Tamara Kramarenko said the dormitory where she lived had been hit by a missile on Wednesday. "Bang, grey. Grey fog... we got three windows - nothing else left! The stairs started collapsing, people started helping each other," she said.

Three civilians were killed and 17 wounded in a pre-dawn rocket attack on Kharkiv yesterday.

After months in which Russian forces made modest territorial gains in heavy fighting in the east, the front line in Ukraine has been comparatively static in recent weeks.

Kyiv says it is preparing for a counterattack to recapture a swathe of southern territory, including Kherson province and Zaporizhzhia where a nuclear plant seized by the Russians is located.

The south district of the operational command of the Ukrainian armed forces said Ukrainian forces killed 29 "occupiers" near the town of Bilohirka, north-east of Kherson, as well as destroyed artillery, armoured vehicles and a military supply depot.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the battlefield reports.

A series of blasts at military bases and ammunition depots in the past week in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, has suggested a shift in the conflict, with Ukraine apparently capable of striking deeper into Russian-occupied territory.

Russia blamed saboteurs for the attacks, while Ukraine has not officially taken responsibility but has hinted at it.

Ukrainian military intelligence said in a statement that after the recent explosions in Crimea, Russian forces had urgently moved some of their planes and helicopters deeper into the peninsula and to airfields in Russia.

Russia's Defence Ministry said yesterday three MiG-31E warplanes equipped with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles have been relocated to its Kaliningrad region, an exclave located between Poland and Lithuania, Interfax reported.

Russian state-owned news agency RIA cited the ministry as saying the MiG jets would be on round-the-clock duty.

On Wednesday, RIA cited sources as saying the commander of its Black Sea fleet, Admiral Igor Osipov, had been replaced with a new chief, Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov.

If confirmed, it would mark one of the most prominent sackings of a military official in a war in which Russia has suffered heavy losses of men and equipment.

Meanwhile, marking six months since Russia's invasion, the United States, Albania, France, Ireland, Norway and Britain have asked the United Nations Security Council to meet on Aug 24 to discuss the impact of the war in Ukraine, said diplomats.

REUTERS