Russia attacks along Ukraine front

Russian forces attacked northern and southern stretches of the front in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region yesterday, pressing on with their offensive despite assertions from Kyiv that Moscow's assault was flagging near the city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian military reports described heavy fighting in the northern sector along a stretch of front running from Lyman to Kupiansk, as well as in the south at Avdiivka on the outskirts of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

Both are parts of the front that have been major Russian targets in a winter offensive campaign to fully capture Ukraine's industrialised Donbas region. The Russian offensive has so far yielded scant gains despite thousands of troops killed on both sides in the bloodiest fighting of the war.

At a Ukrainian artillery position in lush pine forests behind the northern stretch of the front, troops fired 155 mm rounds from a French TRF-1 howitzer towards a highway used as a supply road for the Russian-held stronghold of Kreminna.

For now, Ukrainian forces are still focused on preventing the Russians from advancing along more than 300 km of Donbas front, from Kupiansk in the north to Vuhledar in the south.

In Kostiantynivka, west of Bakhmut, a Russian missile slammed into a refuge offering a warm shelter for civilians, killing at least three women, local officials said.

In the northern Sumy region, an administrative building, a school building, and residential buildings were among those damaged from Russian shelling that killed two civilians, President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said.