by Tom Balmforth and Max Hunder
KYIV, July 16 (Reuters) – Russia has ordered its forces in Ukraine to step up operations, the defense minister said on Saturday, as rockets and missiles rained down on the country in recent days, causing dozens of deaths according to Kyiv.
In the latest strikes, missiles hit the town of Chuhuiv in northeastern Kharkiv region, killing three people including a 70-year-old woman and wounding three others, according to regional governor Oleh Synehubov.
In the south, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said about 50 Russian Grad rockets fell on the town of Nikopol on the Dnipro River. Two people were killed, the emergency services said.
Ukraine says around 40 people have been killed in attacks on urban areas in the past three days.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shogou has ordered military units to step up operations to prevent strikes in eastern Ukraine and other Russian-held territories, the minister said in a published statement. on its website.
The Minister presented two Russian commanders working in Ukraine with medals of “Heroes of the Russian Federation”.
Ukrainian rocket attacks using systems supplied by the West have led to the destruction of some 30 Russian military logistics centers in recent weeks and significantly reduced Russia’s attack potential, Ukraine said on Friday.
FOOD CRISIS
The five-month-long war has centered on the eastern region of Donbass, but Russian forces have also struck towns in other parts of Ukraine.
Moscow, which launched what it called a “special military operation” against Ukraine on February 24, claims to use high-precision weapons against military infrastructure, denying that it targets civilians.
Kyiv and the West view the conflict as an attempt to reclaim a country that broke free from Moscow after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
On Thursday, Kalibr cruise missiles hit an office building in Vinnytsia, a town of 370,000 people about 200 km south-west of Kyiv. The attack killed at least 23 people according to the Ukrainian authorities, including a four-year-old girl named Liza with Down syndrome, found in the rubble next to a pram. Images showing the girl playing a few hours before the attack made the rounds on social networks.
The Russian Defense Minister said the strike on Vinnytsia targeted a building where senior Ukrainian armed forces officials were meeting with foreign arms suppliers.
On Friday evening, Russian missiles struck the town of Dnipro, about 120 km north of Nikopol, killing three people and injuring 15, according to Reznychenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region which includes the two towns.
Russia claims to have destroyed Dnipro a factory manufacturing missile parts.
War dominated a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Indonesia.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said differences over the dispute had prevented finance ministers and central bankers from issuing an official statement, but agreed on the need to address the worsening of the food crisis.
“It’s a difficult time because Russia is part of the G20 and doesn’t agree with us on how to qualify the war,” she said.
Western countries have imposed harsh sanctions on Russia and accused it of war crimes in Ukraine, which Moscow disputes. Other G20 countries including China, India and South Africa have been more restrained in their response.
The blockade limiting the export of Ukrainian cereals raises fears of a famine likely to affect millions of people in the poorest countries.
Despite deadly fighting, Russia and Ukraine have reported progress in lifting a blockade. According to Turkey, which is mediating on this issue, an agreement could be reached next week.
(Report Bureaus de Reuters; French version Elizabeth Pineau)