Russian forces step up Ukraine strikes, face Kherson counter-attack

Russian forces have launched missile strikes on Kiev and Chernihiv regions, areas that haven't been targeted in weeks, with pro-Kremlin separatists calling for a renewed offensive targeting the cities.

Kiev regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram that a settlement in the Vyshgorod district of the region was targeted early on Thursday morning and that an “infrastructure object” was hit. It wasn't immediately clear if there were any casualties.

Chernihiv governor Vyacheslav Chaus at the same time reported that multiple missiles were fired from the territory of Belarus at the Honcharivska community.

Russian troops withdrew from the Kiev and Chernihiv regions months ago, failing to capture either.

The renewed strikes on the areas come a day after the leader of Moscow-backed separatists in the east, Denis Pushilin, publicly called on the Russian forces to “liberate Russian cities founded by the Russian people — Kiev, Chernihiv, Poltava, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk”.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, also came under a barrage of shelling overnight, its mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The southern city of Mykolaiv was fired at as well, with one person sustaining injuries.

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Ukraine's counter-offensive

A day ago, Russian-backed forces said they had captured the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant — Ukraine's second-biggest — in what was Moscow's first significant gain in more than three weeks.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser confirmed the capture of the plant in the eastern Donetsk region and also said Russian forces were conducting a "massive redeployment" of troops to three southern regions.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, added that the Russian redeployment to the south appeared to be a switch to strategic defence from offence, with troops sent to Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Kiev's forces, meanwhile, pressed their counter-attack to recapture the southern city of Kherson, aided by Western-supplied long-range artillery.

Ukrainian forces in the south said they had killed 66 enemy troops and destroyed three tanks and two arms dumps in the past 24 hours. The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

Ukraine has made clear it intends to take back Kherson, which fell to Russia in the early days of its offensive. Ukraine shelled the important Antonivskiy bridge straddling the Dnipro river in Kherson, closing it to traffic.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on Twitter the strikes on bridges over the Dnipro created an "impossible dilemma" for Russia: "retreat or be annihilated by the Ukrainian army".

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-installed regional administration in Kherson, confirmed the bridge had been hit overnight and traffic had been halted. But he sought to downplay the damage.

Russian officials had earlier said they would turn instead to pontoon bridges and ferries to get forces across the river.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would rebuild the Antonivskyi bridge over the Dnipro and other crossings in the region.

"We are doing everything to ensure that the occupying forces do not have any logistical opportunities in our country," he said in a Wednesday evening address.

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