Russia on Wednesday attacked civilian infrastructure in the northern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, while Western defense officials discussed Kiev’s military needs ahead of the expected offensive to retake territory captured from Moscow.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential staff, said a rocket landed near a school in Kharkiv, damaging buildings but causing no casualties. Rescue services are on site, said the head of the Kharkiv region’s military administration, Oleh Synehubov.
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Meanwhile, key supporters of Ukraine from 50 nations came together virtually on Wednesday.
The planned talks came a day after the Pentagon said a Russian jet struck a US spy drone over the Black Sea and knocked it out of the sky, in one of the first direct military confrontations between the two nations’ forces since the war in the US Ukraine started more than a year ago.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that one of its jet fighters, operating from a base in Estonia, intercepted a Russian air-to-air refueling plane flying near Estonian airspace. The British Typhoon, along with a German jet, escorted the Russian plane after it failed to communicate with air traffic control in Estonia while flying between the Russian cities of St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad, the ministry said.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin moderated the virtual conversations from the Pentagon. Several previous meetings of the Defense Contact Group were held at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. Mr. Austin and Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:15 p.m. EDT.
A family drives to the Ukrainian city of Kherson in their car, which was damaged by shelling.
Photo: Oleksandr Gimanov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
While Kiev has called for more sophisticated weapons like tanks and jet fighters to prevail against Russia, Wednesday’s meeting is expected to focus on the supply of ammunition. Ukraine has been burning through artillery shells faster than its western allies can replace them.
Ammunition shortages are also hampering Russia’s efforts to advance into eastern Ukraine, according to Western officials. Analysts estimate that Russia fires about 10,000 shells a day, down from 20,000 to 30,000 last summer – but still well above Ukraine’s 3,000 or so.
The talks came as Ukraine prepares for an expected offensive to retake Russian-held territories. Ukrainian troops are currently on the defensive in the east of the country, where Russian forces have been stepping up attacks since the beginning of the year.
In the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces are struggling to avoid being encircled by Russia after months of bitter fighting and inflicting huge casualties on both sides. Russian forces north, east and south of Bakhmut are squeezing Ukraine’s remaining supply lines from the west.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner paramilitary group that has led the Russian offensive on Bakhmut, said Wednesday that the encirclement of the city is progressing. The settlement of Zaliznyanske, north of Bakhmut, is now under the control of Russian forces, Mr Prigozhin said.
Ukrainian forces have continued to defend Bakhmut despite heavy casualties.
Photo: Roman Chop/Associated Press
A Ukrainian soldier near the frontline city of Kreminna, Ukraine.
Photo: VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA/Portal
The Ukrainian leadership has justified the decision to continue defending Bakhmut, despite the cost, as demoting Russian forces and buying time to prepare for their own offensive. Russia views the city as a stepping stone to control of the rest of the eastern Donetsk region and the broader industrial heartland of Donbass, of which it is a part.
Separately, a Russian agent tasked with assassinating Ukraine’s defense minister and defense intelligence chief was sentenced to up to 12 years in prison by a Kiev court on Tuesday.
The man was recruited in Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, where he served in a Moscow-backed militia.
His Russian superiors hired him to organize an assassination attempt on the head of a Ukrainian combat unit as a test before carrying out more contract killings, but the attempt was thwarted by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. The Russian dealers promised a reward of $100,000 or more for each assassination.
The man was arrested in Ukraine’s Volhynia region in August last year and has pleaded guilty, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that Russia’s oil export earnings have roughly halved in a year to an estimated $11.6 billion, suggesting Western sanctions on Russia’s oil are having an impact on the country’s income. The energy forecaster said Moscow has largely managed to attract new customers after its biggest buyers in Europe turned their backs on Russian crude, but at the expense of its oil export earnings.
—Georgi Kantchev contributed to this article.
Write to Isabel Coles at [email protected]
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