Russia Renews Offensive in Eastern Ukraine With Mass Shelling

 Russian forces bolstered their offensive in the east and pummeled swaths of Ukraine, killing at least three civilians and injuring others.   

Russian forces shelled the Ukrainian-held town of Nikopol from their stronghold near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Ukrainian local Governor Serhii Lysak said emergency services in Nikopol were working to assess the damage.  

Russian forces captured the nuclear plant early in their February 2022 invasion, prompting fears at times of a radiation incident because of shelling in the area. 

On Friday night, a Russian missile struck an industrial facility in Kryvyi Rih, the central Ukraine hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, killing a 60-year-old man and seriously wounding his wife, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said on the Telegram messaging app. 

The mayor reported that Russian missiles and drones hit the same place overnight, sparking a fire that was extinguished by Saturday morning. Vilkul did not characterize what was at the site or how it might be linked to the war.  

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters that Russian forces destroyed the Ukrainian military’s fuel and ammunition depots near Kryvyi Rih’s local airport. 

There was no immediate response from Ukrainian officials to Konashenkov’s claim. 

Mortars, artillery, tanks, drones

Russian forces attacked southern Ukraine’s front-line Kherson region with mortars, artillery, tanks, drones and rocket launchers. One civilian was killed and another was wounded in the mass shelling, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote Saturday in a Telegram post.  

Fierce fighting continues around the eastern city of Avdiivka, as Russian forces have intensified their offensive in that area and Ukrainian forces try to repel Russian attacks, Acting Governor Ihor Moroz said Saturday.  

According to an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War, Russian troops have secured minor gains north of Avdiivka. The Washington-based policy institute said Friday that Moscow has suffered “heavy” material and personnel losses in its effort to secure the contested industrial town. It cited geolocated footage from pro-Kremlin “military bloggers” on the ground to support its assessment.  

The Ukrainian General Staff claimed on Friday that its forces had damaged or destroyed almost 50 Russian tanks and more than 100 armored vehicles in the fighting near Avdiivka during the previous day. 

The claim could not be independently verified, The Associated Press reported. 

Russian forces also have been conducting an offensive to retake territory near Kupiansk and the nearby town of Lyman. 

Meanwhile, the governor of Russia’s southern Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said Saturday that Ukrainian forces shelled two of the province’s districts with mortars and grenade launchers the previous day. According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, no civilians were hurt. 

In his daily address Friday, Zelenskyy thanked military personnel in southern Ukraine “who are holding their ground and destroying the occupier day after day.”  

Ukrainian Orthodox Church 

The Ukrainian parliament voted Thursday to sign a law that would ban the minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or UOC, after Kyiv accused it of collaborating with Russia.  

The UOC has historic links with Moscow but denies Kyiv’s accusations and says the draft law would be unconstitutional.  

Most Ukrainian Christians are members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, or OCU, formed in 2018 from two churches independent of Moscow. 

By contrast, the UOC flock in Ukraine has shrunk to 4% of the population from 18% before Russia’s February 2022 invasion, according to polling by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. 

Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies had voted to support the draft bill, which has to be approved by the president to go into effect. 

The law would ban the activities of religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence “in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine,” and such activities could be terminated by a court of law. 

The UOC said the draft law did not comply with the European Convention on Human Rights or Ukraine’s constitution. 

North Korea condemns U.S. 

On Saturday, North Korea condemned the United States for supplying Ukraine with long-range ballistic missiles, saying any strike using them on Russia will only thwart peace efforts. 

On Tuesday, Ukraine said it used the U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, for the first time, inflicting heavy damage on two airfields in Russian-occupied areas. Kyiv had repeatedly asked Washington for the missiles, while promising not to use them inside Russia.  

“The U.S. finally delivered ATACMS ground-to-ground missile system to Ukraine despite the deep concern and strong opposition of the international community,” Sin Hong-Chol, North Korea’s ambassador to Russia, said in a statement carried by state media KCNA. 

The White House recently accused Pyongyang of providing Russia with weapons shipments, calling it a troubling development and raising concerns about the expanded military relationship between the two countries. According to the White House, satellite photos appear to provide evidence of cargo ships shuttling between Russia and North Korea in support of an illicit arms trade bolstering Moscow’s war in Ukraine. 
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