Ukraine war: Ten latest developments to know about in the conflict
Russian missile strikes in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv killed at least five people, Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday.
A series of artillery barrages across the country over the past day has left at least 10 dead and nearly 20 wounded in eastern and southern regions.
Russian missiles also struck the town of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, an attack that could signal Moscow's determination to hold onto territory in Ukraine's south as it aims to fully conquer the east.
Some of the civilian deaths occurred in Donetsk province. The city of Bakhmut faced particularly heavy shelling as the current focus of Russia's offensive, Donetsk administrative chief Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
In adjacent Luhansk province, which Russian and separatist forces have all but conquered, Ukrainian soldiers battled to retain control of two outlying villages amid Russian shelling, Governor Serhiy Haidai said.
Luhansk and Donetsk together make up Ukraine's Donbas region, a mostly Russian-speaking region of steel factories, mines and other industries vital to Ukraine's economy.
The Russians are “deliberately turning Donbas into ashes, and there will be just no people left on the territories captured,” Haidai said.
Russian artillery also rained down in northeast Ukraine, where a regional governor, Oleg Syniehubov, accused Russian forces of trying to “terrorise civilians” in Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city.
Ukraine said on Wednesday that an agreement to resume grain exports blocked by Russia appeared close as Turkey hosted four-way talks.
It raised hopes of an end to a standoff that has exposed millions to the risk of starvation.
Kyiv believed a deal was just "two steps away", Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was quoted as saying before the
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