The Ukrainian army expected that the Russian forces would intensify their attacks in Donetsk in the Donbas region (eastern Ukraine), and confirmed that it bombed its sites in Kherson (south), while Moscow accused Washington of pushing the world towards nuclear war.

The Ukrainian General Staff said - today, Tuesday - that there are indications that the Russian forces are preparing to intensify hostilities towards the cities of Kramatorsk and Bakhmut in Donetsk Province, which together with Lugansk makes up the Donbass region, which Russia seeks to fully control.

Kramatorsk is the administrative center of Donetsk, and it is still under the control of Ukrainian forces similar to the city of Sloviansk.

After taking almost complete control of Lugansk Province last week, Russian forces shifted their focus to Donetsk Province and intensified bombing, in preparation for a possible large-scale offensive.

In its new assessment of developments on the ground, British intelligence said - today, Tuesday - that Russian forces continue their attack along the main supply route towards the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

She added that the Russian Ministry of Defense may resort to unconventional recruitment due to a shortage of members of its armed forces, noting that the recruitment may include individuals from Russian prisons for the benefit of the Wagner private military company.

Al-Jazeera correspondent had reported the continuation of Russian bombing along the front line in Donetsk Province, and this comes at a time when the Russians continue to mobilize reserve forces and military vehicles, in preparation for the escalation of attacks in Donetsk.

The death toll from the Russian bombing, which targeted - last Saturday evening - the town of Chasiv Yar, southeast of the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, has risen to more than 30 people.


Bombing and battles

In other field developments, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that a series of explosions occurred at dawn today, Tuesday, in the Mykolaiv region (southern Ukraine), a day after the killing of 6 people in a Russian bombing.

The correspondent said that the exchange of shelling between the Ukrainian and Russian forces continued throughout the night on the outskirts of the city.

For his part, the head of the Kharkiv Military Administration (northeast), Oleg Senegubov, said that Russian forces fired 15 "cruise" missiles towards Ukraine last night, hitting Kharkiv and other areas.

Al-Jazeera correspondent reported hearing sirens sound at dawn today, Tuesday, in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and a number of northern and western cities of the country.

The Ukrainian military commander accused the Russian forces of deliberately bombing the civilian population and civilian infrastructure, as he put it.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army said that it continues to bombard the positions of Russian forces in Kherson and the outskirts of Mykolaiv.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Eristovich said that his country's forces targeted an ammunition depot in the Novaya Kakhovka region of the Russian-controlled Kherson province, noting that it contained more than 40 fuel trucks near stored ammunition.

And Eristovich posted - on his official page via the Telegram application - a video clip showing a large explosion, indicating that he was at the target site.

On the other hand, the Russian administration in Kherson announced that Ukrainian forces bombed fertilizer depots in Novaya Kakhovka with American "HIMARS" missiles, which led to huge explosions, killing 7 and wounding 70 others.

Ukrainian forces are launching counter-attacks in the countryside of Kherson and Zaporozhye provinces, and its leaders have confirmed that they have recaptured several towns and villages during the past days.

The Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian Army said that the Russian forces remain behind the defensive lines and do not advance, while the Secretary-General of the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov stated that "the numerical superiority of the Russian army is compensated by the accuracy of the missiles and artillery owned by Ukraine."

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directed his Defense Minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, to develop a plan to restore the occupied areas in the south of the country.


foreign ships

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Navy announced the arrival of the first 8 foreign ships to Ukrainian ports to export agricultural products through the Bicester Estuary of the Danube Canal and the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian Navy said that the use of the channel became possible thanks to what it described as the liberation of Snake Island from the Russian occupiers, allowing Ukrainian forces to take partial land and air control in the south of the country.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian army announced that it had opened a corridor for ships through the Bicester estuary on the Black Sea to work on transporting Ukrainian agricultural products, especially grain.

He added that this step came as a major result of his recovery of Snake Island, which was vacated by Russian forces at the end of last June.

Russia's control of a number of Ukrainian ports and its blockade of other ports on the Black Sea prevented the export of Ukrainian agricultural products, especially grain, and this led to a rise in food prices globally, and raised fears of famine in some countries.


Nuclear confrontation and possible negotiations

On the other hand, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Washington is reaching the brink of a dangerous conflict between two nuclear-armed states by launching a confrontation with Russia over Ukraine.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the United States and its allies, by unleashing what she described as a hybrid confrontation with Russia over Ukraine, are putting the world on the brink of nuclear war, and that attempts to blame Moscow for this are totally unacceptable, adding that the United States and its allies pushed matters. Towards the edge of an open military confrontation with Russia.

She said that this means a direct armed conflict of the nuclear powers, and that such a clash would be fraught with nuclear escalation, as she put it.

"Attempts for propaganda purposes to distort the logic of deterrence on which official Russian comments on nuclear issues are based and present us as a state threatening nuclear weapons are absolutely unacceptable," the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry added.

Moscow had hinted at several options, including the deployment of nuclear weapons, if the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) reached its borders.

Regarding a possible settlement with Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed Moscow's readiness to negotiate with Kyiv if the Russian position was properly taken into account.

The ministry said it was premature to talk about the possibility of the United Nations participating as a mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations.