The battles continued during the last hours on the Bakhmut front in eastern Ukraine, while areas in the Kharkiv province in the north-east of the country were subjected to a Russian attack with missiles and marches, and Moscow attacked Washington's support for the Ukrainian strikes against military installations in the Crimea.

The Ukrainian Staff Command stated that the fiercest battles are currently taking place in the city of Bakhmut, north of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, and that 15 villages in the vicinity of the city have been subjected to heavy Russian bombardment.

Meanwhile, the city of Kharkiv - the second largest city in Ukraine after the capital, Kiev - was subjected to a series of Russian missile strikes, while sirens continue to sound in the city.

The city's mayor announced that two Kharkiv neighborhoods had been targeted with 5 S-300 missiles, stressing that there were deaths and injuries as a result of the bombing.

For its part, the Military Administration in Kharkiv Province confirmed the readiness of its forces to repel any attempts by Russian forces to attack the province.


Dozens of Russian missiles

The Ukrainian General Staff said that during the past day, Russian forces launched 41 missiles at Ukraine, 5 of which were S-300s, and landed on Kharkiv, noting that the Ukrainian air defenses shot down 16 of them.

The General Staff added that the Russian attacks led to deaths and injuries among the civilian population, and it also talked about its forces repelling Russian attacks in separate areas of Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson.

In another context, the commission claimed that a team of Iranian trainers had recently arrived in Lugansk to train the Russian army on the use of unmanned offensive air systems.

The battles focused in the last hours on the Bakhmut front in the east of the country, while areas in Kharkiv province were subjected to a Russian attack with missiles and marches.

In field developments as well, the governor of the city of Sevastopol in the Crimea, Mikhail Razvogaev, said that the air defenses shot down a Ukrainian march at the Balaclava power station without causing damage, indicating that work is proceeding normally.

Crimean attacks

Politically, Moscow attacked - what it described - the American support for the Ukrainian attacks on the Crimean peninsula.

A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington, Igor Girenko, said that the statements of the US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, regarding her country's support for the Ukrainian strikes against military facilities in Crimea, is a clear recognition of Washington's involvement in the conflict.

Gerenko added that these statements confirm the validity of Russia's position, which confirms the direct intervention of the United States in the conflict.

He said that the US official admits in this statement that her country is urging the Kiev regime to attack Russia.


Support Kyiv

In the context, the US mission to NATO said that it will continue with partners and allies in NATO to support Ukraine for self-defense.

The mission added that Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine are evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no interest in diplomacy, as described.

In political developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out giving up any lands from his country in any possible peace agreement with Russia.

"We chose this path. We want security guarantees. Any concessions related to land will make us weaker as a state," he said in an interview with the BBC, ruling out any dialogue with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In turn, the advisor to the Ukrainian president said that negotiations could begin when Russia withdraws its forces from Ukrainian territory, considering that any options other than withdrawal give Russia time to regroup its forces and resume hostilities.