Russia struck a public transport facility in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on June 23, killing at least two people as Ukraine grappled with yet another wide-scale attack involving Russian cruise missiles and Iranian-made drones.
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In central Ukraine, the military said air defenses thwarted a major air strike, downing all 13 cruise missiles launched by Russia overnight at an airfield in Khmelnitskiy. The military said the attack was carried out around midnight by aircraft from the direction of the Caspian Sea.
Russia has drastically stepped up the frequency and intensity of its air strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and cities, in particular on Kyiv, from the beginning of last month, causing numerous casualties among civilians and huge material damage.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said "targeted fire" struck a municipal trolleybus company in Kherson city, instantly killing a 55-year-old employee, and wounding five others. A second man, aged 43, later died of his wounds in hospital, Prokudin said on Telegram.
Overnight, another air raid alert was declared for several hours throughout Ukraine as Russian forces launched numerous cruise missiles and Shahed drones, the General Staff reported, adding that the consequences of the "massive" raid were being clarified.
On the battlefield, Russian forces made more attempts at attacking Ukrainian positions in the eastern region of Donetsk, the General Staff reported, with heavy fighting under way in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka, where more than 30 close-quarter battles were fought over the past 24 hours.
Separately, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on June 23 that Ukrainian defenders stopped a Russian offensive in Lyman and in Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.
"For the last week and a half, we have been fighting very fierce battles on the Kupyansk and Lyman fronts," Malyar told Ukrainian television.
Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram that Russian forces launched an air strike near a chemical plant in Avdiyivka, one of the spots of heavy fighting in Donetsk. It was not immediately known if the plant was damaged.
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Ukrainian troops continue to conduct offensive operations in Melitopol and Berdyansk in the south and downed another Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter, the General Staff said in separate reports.
The military said it was the sixth such helicopter shot down by Ukrainian forces over the past several days.
The battlefield reports could not be independently verified by RFE/RL.
Russia's latest wave of attacks came a day after a key bridge connecting Russia-annexed Crimea with the occupied part of Ukraine's southern region of Kherson was damaged after being hit by what Moscow said were Storm Shadow missiles donated by Britain.
The strike was carried out on the bridge known as "the gate to Crimea," which represents the shortest route from the Crimean Peninsula to the front line in southern Ukraine, making it a key link in Russia's supply line.
Russia-installed officials said the road on the bridge was damaged but that no one was injured, while alternative transport routes had been opened.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine has vowed to retake it.
WATCH: In a recently liberated Ukrainian village, skeletons lie amid the ruined buildings. RFE/RL reporter Roman Pahulych visited Vremivka and Neskuchne days after they were recaptured by Ukrainian forces.
Since the start of its much-anticipated counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military has managed to retake several villages in Russia-occupied southern Ukraine.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak on June 23 cautioned against exaggerated expectations from Ukraine's offensive operations, saying that they currently have the role to prepare the battlefield.
"Real war is not a Hollywood blockbuster. The counteroffensive is not a new season of a Netflix show. There is no need to expect action and buy popcorn," Podolyak wrote on Twitter. "Offensive operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue in a number of areas. Formation operations are underway to set up the battlefield."
On June 22, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal predicted positive results from the counteroffensive but added that "Ukraine values the lives of its soldiers, so it does not plan to thoughtlessly lead them under fire," according to Ukrinform.
"We work according to NATO standards," Shmyhal said, speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.
"We protect each of our soldiers and take steps forward. It will take time, but we intend to move forward and we are moving forward with a counterattack. We all have to be patient and see the results."
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has admitted that the progress of the counteroffensive was slower than desired but said that Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up.
"What's at stake is people's lives," Zelenskiy told the BBC earlier this week.
The start of Ukraine's counteroffensive operation in the southern region of Zaporizhzhya has also prompted Russia to transfer part of its strategic aircraft fleet to North Ossetia in the Caucasus, from where it can launch strikes on Ukrainian civilian and military targets, as revealed by Skhemy (Schemes), an investigative project run by RFE/RL.
Schemes has obtained satellite images by Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based commercial company, showing that the Russian Army moved such aircraft to the airfield near the North Ossetian city of Mozdok.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian TU-22M3 planes took off from the Mozdok airfield on the night of June 22 and launched X-22 cruise missiles at Dnipropetrovsk region, causing damage to civilian infrastructure.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
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