The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region says towns there are coming under constant shelling.
Serhiy Haidai said two people had been killed in Popasna – a town of about 20,000 people – where residential buildings have come under attack and street fighting has taken place.
He wrote on Telegram that the Russians were hitting power lines and substations. Some towns were without water after a Russian shell hit the power plant for a pumping station.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three MI-8 helicopters at an airfield in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine regarding the Russian claims.
Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours, despite increased activity, UK intelligence says
And Moscow has yet to establish full control of either air or sea, the British update says
Russia, however, claims a range of successes as its air force targeted multiple Ukrainian military facilities overnight
More civilians could leave the devastated southern city of Mariupol, via a planned humanitarian corridor – though these have failed in the past
There are reportedly 100,000 people left in the strategic port city – Ukraine’s deputy PM has said the UN may need to help for evacuation to succeed
A video appearing to show women and children trapped in a bunker in a steelworks – the last redoubt of Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol – has been published
AC