Three die, dozen injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine

Three people were killed with more than a dozen wounded in Russian attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours, authorities said Tuesday.

Tensions over the three-year war have escalated in recent weeks, with Moscow pummelling Ukrainian energy infrastructure and threatening to strike Kyiv with its new hypersonic missile.

In the eastern Donetsk region, Russian bombardment over the past day left two people dead and at least six injured, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.

“In just 24 hours, Russians fired nine times at settlements of the Donetsk region. Three hundred and fifty-eight people, including 49 children, were evacuated from the frontline,” he wrote.

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Russian shelling of the southern Kherson region since Monday morning has left one person dead and several others wounded, according to regional authorities.

Ten people were also wounded in the Russian bombardment of the northeast Kharkiv region, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.

Moscow has made steady gains across the eastern frontline in recent months, pressing its advantage against overstretched and outgunned Ukrainian soldiers.

On Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry said it had captured the village of Zhovte near the Kyiv-held supply hub of Pokrovsk.

Both sides are seeking to strengthen their negotiating position ahead of US president-elect Donald Trump entering the White House next month.

Trump has claimed he will settle the nearly three-year conflict in “24 hours” once in power, raising alarm in Ukraine that it will be forced to make huge territorial concessions in exchange for peace.

On Sunday, Trump called for an “immediate ceasefire”, writing on his Truth Social platform that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ready to “make a deal and stop the madness”.

Zelensky said Tuesday that he was grateful for Trump’s “strong resolve” to end the war in Ukraine, calling an end to the conflict his “top priority”.

AFP