Russia steps up strikes in eastern and southern Ukraine after regrouping troops

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Both the Kremlin and the Ukrainian General Staff have confirmed that Russian troops are stepping up their attacks in the east and south of the country once the troop regrouping phase is over.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered “to strengthen the activities of the Southern and Central military groups to exclude the possibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine launching massive missile attacks on the eastern Ukrainian cities under Moscow’s control, Russian news agency TASS reports.

For its part, the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom had advanced on Friday that the situation at the Zaporiyia nuclear plant was “extremely tense,” with up to 500 Russian soldiers controlling the plant.

In the south of the country at least three people have been killed and 15 injured in the Ukrainian town of Dnipro after a Russian missile strike hit a factory, local authorities have said.

“Rockets have hit an industrial enterprise and the busy street next door. The Russian attack claimed the lives of three people and 15 others have been wounded,” Dnipropetrovsk province military governor Valentin Reznichenko has detailed on his Telegram channel.

Among the 15 people injured, two had medium serious injuries, while the other 13 had serious injuries. As a result of the missile impact, two cars in the vicinity were burned, while ten others were damaged.

Two other people were also killed in Nikopol, according to Reznichenko, after 53 Grad rockets were reportedly fired at the city.

Finally, Ukrainian authorities have raised the death toll in this week’s attack by Russian forces on the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia to 24, Serhi Borzov, head of the Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration, has denounced on his Telegram channel.