Russian strikes on Odessa and Donetsk, and Kiev forces respond by bombing Kakhovka

Russian missile strikes targeted the south and east of Ukraine on Wednesday, killing many people, while Ukrainian air defenses responded to the massive attacks.

Russia fired four Kalibr missiles from a ship in the Black Sea at the coastal city of Odessa, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, while the air defenses shot down three of them.

One of the missiles hit a food warehouse, killing three employees and wounding seven, according to the commander of the military administration in the region, Oleg Kipper, on Telegram.

“There may be people under the rubble,” he added.

Six other people wounded after a commercial center, shops, and a residential complex in the city center damaged, “as a result of air combat and the wave caused by the explosion”.

In the eastern cities of Kramatorsk and Kostyantinivka, Russian missile strikes carried out at night killed three people and destroyed dozens of homes, according to the head of the Donetsk region’s military administration.

Russian army announced that it launched several strikes during the night targeting Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries, as well as warehouses containing foreign-made weapons.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that all identified targets were hit.

In addition, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Wednesday that six people killed on Tuesday in a car that hit during a Russian air strike in northeastern Ukraine near the town of Seredina Buda in the Sumy region, near the Russian border.

Moscow has intensified its night attacks on major Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, while Kiev has launched a long-awaited counter-offensive to recapture areas occupied by Russian forces.

Ukraine announced on Wednesday that Kiev had recovered in the past three days lands of about three square kilometers and advanced in some areas at a depth of up to 1.4 km, while fighting continues near the villages that have been restored.

The latest strikes come as the death toll from the attack on Tuesday, the town of Kryvyi Rig, and home to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, rose to 12.

The authorities of the Dnepropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rig is located, also announced a new Russian attack with drones that took place during the night.

In addition, Ukraine confirms that it is making gains after launching its counterattack, Putin announced Tuesday that his forces are inflicting “catastrophic” losses on the enemy forces.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross announced that it had visited 1,500 prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine.

The International Committee of the Red Cross stressed the importance of access to Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“For the prisoners of war and their families who have been able to find out about them, the impact … Is immeasurable,” Ariane Boyer, the ICRC’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, told reporters.

Putin acknowledged during a meeting in the Kremlin that the Russian forces suffer from a shortage in their stocks of some military equipment, referring in particular to offensive drones and missiles.

Kiev was quick to respond, stressing that Ukraine’s move, supported by weapons and training from the West, led to “certain gains and the implementation of our plans and progress”.

Military analysts report that Ukraine hasn’t yet relied on the bulk of its forces to carry out the counterattack.

It’s currently still testing the front by carrying out attacks that enable it to identify weak points.

In recent days, Kiev announced the restoration of a series of villages in the Donetsk region.

In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War reported in its latest analysis, “Ukrainian forces continued counterattack operations in at least three axes and made limited field gains on June 13”.

Meanwhile, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, expected to visit the Zaporizhia nuclear plant on Wednesday, but Russian news agencies announced that the visit postponed for a day.

The International Atomic Energy Agency warned that the dam disaster, which killed at least 17 people and left dozens missing, complicates an essentially grave situation with regard to nuclear safety and security at the plant.

Moscow and Kiev exchanged accusations of blowing up the dam on the Dnieper River.