Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the Ukrainian authorities announced today, Sunday, a state of air alert in the provinces of Donetsk, Dnipro and Poltava, and while Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that the military operations in Ukraine are proceeding positively, the Russian Emergency Authority announced that 10 rescuers were wounded in an explosion in the border city of Belgorod.

And areas in Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv (north), the city of Lviv (west), and Kharkiv (east), were subjected to new Russian missile strikes yesterday, Saturday, that continued until this morning, targeting infrastructure facilities and residential areas, and causing widespread power outages.

In the Dnipro canton (south), the local authorities reported today that the death toll from the Russian bombing that targeted a residential building yesterday, Saturday, had risen to 23, in addition to 73 wounded.

The authorities said that rescue operations were still continuing, and that the fate of more than 40 people remained unknown.

According to the provincial administration, as a result of the missile strike on the residential building, 72 apartments were completely destroyed and more than 200 apartments were damaged.

movements in the Black Sea

On the other hand, the Ukrainian army reported monitoring an increase in the number of Russian ships that were put on combat alert on the Black Sea front, and confirmed its readiness for large-scale Russian attacks from that front.

The Ukrainian army said that Russia has strengthened its presence in the Black Sea with 5 missile carriers and one submarine during the past hours.

According to the Ukrainian military's statement, the Russian Navy has moved sea sectors from Sevastopol in the Crimea peninsula to the Black Sea, and during Saturday's attack they used half of the Kalibr missiles ready for launch.

Putin comment

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the military operation in Ukraine is proceeding positively, and in accordance with the military plans of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff.

And Putin added in an interview with the Russian public channel broadcast on Sunday that he hoped that Russian soldiers would make more gains after Solidar.

In turn, Reuters reported that Russia may resort to raising the maximum age for recruiting its citizens by the spring as part of its plans to increase the number of combat forces by 30%.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Putin supported in principle the idea of ​​raising the maximum age for military service, subject to possible changes, but the exact details were left to the defense ministry.

Solidar battles

On the ground, the Ukrainian Operations Command broadcasted pictures that it said were from Solidar, during which its forces targeted fighters from the Russian "Wagner" militia when they tried to infiltrate the Ukrainian army's positions inside the city.

The Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense had said earlier that fierce battles were still going on in the city of Solidar, which Russia announced its control, while Ukraine denies the fall of the city completely.

For his part, the governor of the Ukrainian province of Donetsk, Pavlo Korlenko, said that Solidar is still under the control of the Ukrainian forces, and he spoke of fierce battles taking place in this city and in neighboring Bakhmut, as well as the losses incurred by the Russian army there.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Defense announced the completion of control of Solidar yesterday, Saturday, and Russian media published pictures that it said were from inside the city, showing fighters from the Wagner Group, accompanied by Russian journalists, and the extent of the destruction in the city.

In turn, the owner of the Russian private military "Wagner" group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, confirmed - yesterday, Saturday - that his fighters had taken control of the city of Solidar, despite the Ukrainian denial, and praised the effectiveness of his forces in Ukraine.

He added that he would work to send the bodies of all Ukrainian army forces to the Kyiv authorities.

These statements come shortly after Prigozhin arrived in the city to honor his forces, and after the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces had fully taken control of the strategic city of Solidar near the city of Bakhmut, which it has been trying to seize for months.

Mutual bombardment

In Donetsk, the governor of the Ukrainian province said that 7 people were killed and dozens wounded in Russian bombing.

On the other hand, the pro-Russian authorities said that 3 civilians were injured in Ukrainian artillery and missile strikes on the city of Donetsk.

The separatists added that the Ukrainian shelling targeted the town of Shakhtyorsk, the city of Gorlovka, and towns close to the battle line between the two sides.

In other simultaneous developments, the governor of Lugansk Province, which forms with Donetsk the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian forces had regained all the sites that Russian forces had taken control of a few days ago in the "Svatova-Kremina" axis.

For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the elimination of about 200 Ukrainian soldiers in the military operations that were carried out on Friday, and said that its forces are continuing their offensive operations, which it described as successful in the Donetsk axis.