Eight people died in Ukraine’s Luhansk region on Saturday in a Russian attack, governor Serhiy Gaidai said in a social media post.
Russia’s offensive on Ukraine has seemingly increased ahead of US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s visit to Kyiv. The Ukraine military reported the Russian deployment of Iskander-M mobile battlefield missile launchers within 60km (40 miles) of the Ukrainian border.
“Then enemy has increased the number of troops in the Belgorod region by transferring and concentrating additional units,” said the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“According to available information, Iskander-M launchers have been deployed 60 km from the border with Ukraine,” it added.
The Iskander is a mobile ballistic missile system that replaced Soviet Scud missile. Codenamed SS-26 Stone by Nato, its two guided missiles have a range of up to 500 km and can carry conventional nuclear warheads.
Russia also renewed its attack on the Azovstal steel plants, days after Russian president Vladimir Putin said his troops would not storm the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky threatened to pull out of peace talks following the escalating military aggression on the steel plant housing Ukrainian civilians and fighters.
“If our men are killed in Mariupol, Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” Mr Zelensky said.
Earlier Russia pounded several cities in southern and eastern Ukraine, killing a three-month-old baby along with eight others in the Black seaport city of Odesa.
“The war started when this baby was one month old. Can you imagine what is happening?” the president added.
Despite, Russia making territorial gains, Ukrainian resistance has been strong across all axes, said the UK Ministry of Defence as it lauded Kyiv for inflicting “a significant cost on Russian forces”.
“Ukraine has repelled numerous Russian assaults along the line of contact in Donbas this week,” it said in its daily update on Sunday.
“Poor Russian morale and limited time to reconstitute, re-equip and reorganise forces from prior offensives are likely hindering Russian combat effectiveness.”
