Russia strikes cities across Ukraine, gas supplies in focus

KYIV, July 19 (Reuters) – Russian forces stored up their bombardment of cities throughout Ukraine, with intense shelling of Sumy within the north, cluster bombs concentrating on Mykolaiv and a missile strike in Odesa within the south, authorities mentioned on Tuesday.

After failing to seize the capital Kyiv on the outset of the invasion on Feb 24, Russia has shifted to a marketing campaign of devastating bombardments to cement and prolong its management of Ukraine’s south and east.

Ukraine says Russian forces have intensified long-distance strikes on targets removed from the entrance, killing massive numbers of civilians. Moscow says it’s hitting navy targets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia had fired greater than 3,000 cruise missiles and uncountable artillery shells in the course of the five-month battle.

Over the weekend, Zelenskiy suspended the nation’s safety chief and high prosecutor, saying they did not purge Russian spies from their organizations. learn extra

Regardless of his disclosure of Russian penetration of the SBU, U.S. officers on Monday mentioned Washington would proceed sharing intelligence that U.S. officers have mentioned Kyiv makes use of to answer Moscow’s assaults. learn extra

This week may very well be pivotal for European nations involved concerning the influence of struggle and sanctions on fuel provides.

Russia is because of reopen its essential pure fuel pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 1, in coming days after common upkeep, however Europeans are fearful Moscow might preserve it closed.

Russia’s Gazprom, which operates the pipeline, has informed prospects in Europe it can not assure fuel provides due to “extraordinary” circumstances, in line with a letter seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an financial tit-for-tat with the West. learn extra

HEAVY BOMBARDMENT

In Odesa, a Russian missile strike injured at the least 4 individuals, burned homes to the bottom and set different houses on hearth, Oleksii Matsulevych, a spokesman for the regional administration, mentioned on his Telegram channel.

Russian forces focused Mykolaiv with cluster shells Monday, injuring at the least two individuals and damaging home windows and roofs of personal homes, the Ukrainian metropolis’s mayor Oleksandr Senkevich mentioned in a social media publish.

Greater than 150 mines and shells had been fired on the Sumy area, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the pinnacle of the Sumy regional navy administration, mentioned on Telegram.

“They fired mortars, barrel and rocket artillery. The Russians additionally opened hearth utilizing machine weapons and grenade launchers,” he mentioned.

Kyiv hopes the struggle is at a turning level, with Moscow having exhausted its offensive capabilities in seizing a couple of small cities within the east, whereas Ukraine now fields long-range Western weapons that may strike behind Russian traces.

Kyiv cites a string of profitable strikes on 30 Russian logistics and ammunition hubs, which it says are crippling Russia’s artillery-dominated forces that want to move 1000’s of shells to the entrance every day.

In a Fb publish on Monday, Ukraine’s high navy commander, Common Valery Zaluzhny, credited U.S.-supplied superior long-range rocket techniques often known as HIMARS with serving to to “stabilize the scenario” by way of “main strikes at enemy command factors, ammunition and gasoline storage warehouses.”

Russia mentioned on Monday that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had ordered the navy to focus on destroying Ukraine’s Western-supplied rockets and artillery.

European Union overseas ministers on Monday agreed to supply Ukraine with one other 500 million euros ($504 million) in EU funds for arms, elevating the bloc’s assist to 2.5 billion euros since Moscow invaded on Feb. 24. learn extra

Within the south, Ukraine is making ready a counterattack to recapture the largest swath of territory taken for the reason that invasion. Ukraine reported destroying Russian missile techniques, communications, radar, ammunition depots and armoured automobiles in strikes within the southern Kherson area.

Within the east, Ukrainian forces withdrew initially of July from Luhansk, one in all two provinces Russia claims on behalf of its separatist proxies.

Kyiv says Moscow is planning one other assault to seize the final Ukrainian-held pocket of neighbouring Donetsk province.

President Vladimir Putin says his assault on Ukraine is a “particular navy operation” to demilitarise Russia’s neighbour and root out harmful nationalists. Kyiv and the West name it an try to reconquer a rustic that broke freed from Moscow’s rule in 1991.

Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Jonathan Landay and Lincoln Feast; Enhancing by Michael Perry

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.