America is preparing for a long conflict and a military base in Germany .. Ukraine suffers heavy casualties and the death of a senior Russian official

Today, Friday, it was reported that a senior Russian official had been killed.

While Ukraine incurred heavy human losses as a result of the Russian bombing of several cities, sources said that Washington is preparing for a long conflict in Ukraine whose support is coordinated through a military base in Germany.

In Kherson, the deputy head of the Russian Department of Security Affairs was killed by a Ukrainian missile strike that targeted his house.

As for Zaporozhye, Reuters reported that 23 Ukrainians were killed and 28 wounded in Russian bombing of a convoy of civilians.

"The enemy launched a missile attack on a humanitarian convoy of civilians, people were queuing to go to the temporarily occupied area to go and see their relatives and receive help," said Ukrainian regional governor Oleksandr Starukh, adding, "There are 23 dead and 28 wounded."

Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that last night, strong explosions rocked Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

The head of the regional administration in Mykolaiv, Vitaly Kim, confirmed that there were at least seven explosions.

He accused the Russian forces of bombing a nine-storey building in a residential neighborhood in the city and causing severe damage to it.

He said rescue teams are working to get people out of the rubble.

Three people were killed in Mykolaiv earlier in the bombing of a bus stop in the city center

cluster munitions

The Mayor of Mykolaiv told Al-Jazeera that the bombing of the city was carried out with cluster munitions, carried out by Russian rocket launchers.

He added that the bombing caused the injury of more than a dozen civilians.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Ukraine reported that there were deaths and injuries as a result of Russian missile strikes targeting several areas in the Dnipro region, in the south of the country.

The provincial governor said that one of the rockets fell on a residential community, leaving dead and wounded people trapped under the rubble, and that rescue and exhumation operations were still continuing.

The city governor added that several rockets also landed near a bus station in the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry had said that it had killed more than 80 mercenaries of the "Foreign Legion" in Donetsk province.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov also announced the destruction of six Ukrainian control posts in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, and nine arms and ammunition depots in separate areas.

The pro-Russian separatist forces in Donetsk also announced that the Ukrainian army had suffered great material and human losses, as a result of an attack launched by the Russian-backed forces on Ukrainian targets in Mayorsk, north of Donetsk.

The pictures show that the pro-Russian forces targeted centers they said were military and command positions and fortifications of the Ukrainian army.

The forces in Donetsk confirmed that the Ukrainian army had been killed after targeting their positions in the region.

For his part, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that the Russian bombardment continued on the cities of Bakhmut, Soledar and Kurakhova.

The Governor of Donetsk Province also announced the killing of six civilians during the bombing that targeted separate areas yesterday.

The governor of the city of Kramatorsk said that ten people were injured as a result of the Russian bombing that targeted the city, and caused damage to public facilities and private property.

Al-Jazeera correspondent also reported that four missiles fell on different areas in the center of the city of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk Province, targeting residential communities and some colleges and institutes.

Pictures of the island show the effects of the bombing near the College of Technical Engineering, in the center of the city.

The leader of the separatists in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said that the situation on the axis of the city of Lyman is difficult, but the situation will turn in favor of his forces soon, as he put it.

On the other hand, military sources in the Ukrainian army said that its forces continue to advance in the Lyman axis, north of Donetsk Province.

According to the sources, the Ukrainian army managed to tighten its control over the town of "Kolodiazy", north of Lyman.

New weapons and leadership

In a related context, the "Washington Post" quoted US military officials as saying that Washington is preparing for a long-term conflict in Ukraine, and is ramping up arms production, while redoubling the focus on long-range missile artillery systems.

The New York Times quoted a senior Pentagon official as saying that they will order the new HIMARS launcher systems from the manufacturer, and delivery will take a few years.

The HIMARS system can serve as a missile launcher, or a platform for medium-range ballistic missiles;

But the United States supplies Ukraine with components for the launcher, which has a range of about eighty kilometers, without the ballistic system.

According to the New York Times, the Pentagon is preparing to put in place a mechanism for training and equipping the Ukrainian army, reflecting the US administration's commitment to Ukraine's long-term support in the war with Russia.

According to officials, this mechanism will be under one new command based in Germany, and it will be headed by a high-ranking American general.

This proposal was made by the Commander of US Forces in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, to the Secretary of Defense.

If this mechanism is adopted, the new command will report to General Cavoli, and will implement the decisions taken by the Ukraine Contact Group, which consists of forty countries.