Russia intensifies its military operations, raining missiles on Ukrainian cities
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it had ordered its forces in Ukraine to step up their operations as missiles were falling, the latest in a series of strikes that Kyiv says have killed dozens of people in recent days.
In the latest strikes, Oleg Senhopov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said that the missiles hit the town of Chuhiv in the northeastern region, killing three people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others.
In the south, Valentin Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said that more than 50 Russian Grad missiles landed on the city of Nikopol on the Dnipro River.
Emergency services said two people were killed.
Ukraine says the death toll from these attacks on urban areas has reached about 40 over the past three days.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had ordered military units to intensify their operations to prevent strikes on eastern Ukraine and other Russian-controlled areas.
It added that Shoigu "gave the necessary instructions to increase the movement of groups in all areas of operation in order to exclude the possibility of Kyiv launching massive missile and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure and population centers in Donbass and other regions."
The ministry said Shoigu issued the order after listening at a command center to reports from generals who command the "south" and "centre" command groups of Russian forces carrying out operations in Ukraine, as well as other commanders.
It was not clear from the statement, or available silent footage, exactly when the meeting took place, or whether Shoigu and the leaders at the time were inside Ukraine.
Ukraine said on Friday that Ukrainian missile strikes using Western-supplied systems had destroyed more than 30 Russian military logistics centers in the past weeks and significantly reduced the ability of Russian forces to attack.
While the focus of the war, now in its fifth month, has shifted to the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, Russian forces are directing missile strikes on cities elsewhere in the country in what has increasingly turned into a war of attrition.
Moscow, which launched what it called its "special military operation" against Ukraine on February 24, allegedly to root out dangerous nationalists, says it is using high-precision weapons to undermine Ukraine's military infrastructure and protect its security.
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