Russia's war on Ukraine... mutual air and missile strikes, and Moscow signs an agreement with Minsk to coordinate their combat capabilities

Russia continues its air and missile strikes on separate locations along the southern and eastern lines of contact with Ukraine, while the latter confirmed that it has begun carrying out many air strikes on Russian forces.

Meanwhile, Moscow and Minsk announced the coordination of their combat capabilities, and signed a special protocol on regional security.

The Ukrainian General Staff said that the Russian forces launched 16 air strikes, in addition to more than 30 attacks from missile systems, during the past hours, on the positions of its forces in more than one axis along the southern and eastern contact lines.

Ukraine confirmed that its forces carried out 25 air raids on the locations of the Russian forces, without specifying those locations, in addition to the continuation of artillery shelling between the two parties.

For its part, the Ukrainian Navy confirmed that it had monitored the movements of 20 Russian warships in the Black Sea, including 4 missile carriers.

Al-Jazeera's correspondent in Zaporizhia, in the south of the country, reported the continuation of the mutual shelling between the Ukrainian and Russian forces, and confirmed that successive explosions were heard in this province.

The Ukrainian Southern Operations Command said that the Russian bombardment continued on the water stations in the Ochakov region of Mykolaiv Province, in the south of the country, in addition to targeting the coastal areas of the province.

It also confirmed the continuation of the Russian bombardment of Kherson province in the south, confirming the continuation of artillery shelling between the two parties along the banks of the Dnieper River in the province.

The Ukrainian authorities also indicated that the entire Nikopol region, in the Dnipro canton in the south of the country, was subjected to Russian artillery shelling over the past hours.

On the other hand, the Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that neighborhoods in the city of Donetsk were subjected to Ukrainian shelling.

The Russian Ministry of Defense had said that its units had repelled Ukrainian attempts to reinforce its positions in the Avdiivka and Mariinka regions of Donetsk.

It added that the Russian air defense systems and air force were able to shoot down 10 Ukrainian drones and a helicopter over Donetsk and Luhansk.

For his part, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, southeastern Ukraine, said that last night Russian forces bombed 4 towns in the region with heavy artillery.

The governor of the region also showed scenes of the bombing, which he said damaged 5 homes, agricultural facilities and power lines, without causing any injuries.

Agreement to ensure regional security

On the other hand, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu signed, with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin, a protocol to amend the agreement on joint guarantee of regional security in the military field between the two countries.

Shoigu said that Moscow and Minsk are taking measures to coordinate the combat capabilities of the Russian and Belarusian military formations, explaining that the relations of the two countries are of particular importance in the face of what he called unprecedented pressure from the West.

The Russian Defense Minister praised what he called Belarus' resistance to the hostile course of the United States and its allies, as he put it.

French conditional support

In another context, the French President said - in an interview with the French "TF1" channel broadcast yesterday, Saturday - that his country would continue to support Ukraine militarily and would provide it with more weapons, but he made it clear that this support would not include any military equipment that would enable it to attack the territories. Russian including Paris in the conflict.

Macron stressed - in the interview, which was recorded during his visit to the United States last week - that Europe needs to prepare its future security architecture.

He also said, "This means that one of the main points that we must address, as President (Russian Vladimir) Putin always says, is the fear that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will come to its doors and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia."

A few days ago, NATO pledged to intensify support for Ukraine and help repair its energy infrastructure, amid a wave of Russian attacks that lead to frequent interruptions in electricity and heating supplies for millions of Ukrainians.

"We will continue and intensify political and practical support for Ukraine, while it continues to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity... Our support will continue as long as needed," the NATO foreign ministers said in a statement last Tuesday.