Russian bombers may have fired heavy missiles at 1960s ships in Ukraine, the UK Department of Defense has said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using nuclear warheads. When used in land attacks with conventional warheads, “they are extremely inaccurate and therefore can cause serious collateral damage and casualties,” the ministry said. Both sides have spent large quantities of weapons on what has turned into a war of attrition for the eastern area of ​​the coal mines and factories known as the Donbas, overwhelming their resources and reserves. Russia is likely to use the 5.5-ton (6.1-ton) anti-ship missiles because it does not have more accurate modern missiles, the British ministry said. He did not provide details on where exactly such missiles are believed to have been deployed. The deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Vadym Skibitsky, told The Guardian that Ukraine used 5,000 to 6,000 artillery shells a day and now it depends on what the West gives it.

GOVERNOR: FLOVES USED IN LUHANSK A Ukrainian governor has accused Russia of using incendiary weapons in the village of Vrubivka in Ukraine’s eastern province of Luhansk, southwest of the disputed cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. While the use of flamethrowers on the battlefield is legal, Serhii Haidai, the governor of Luhansk province, claimed that the overnight attacks caused extensive damage to civilian facilities. “Information on the number of victims in Vrubivka, in the Popasnyanska area, is being clarified. “At night, the enemy used a system of flamethrower missiles – many houses were burned,” Haidai wrote in the Telegram on Saturday morning. He also said that Russian forces had continued their offensive in Sievierodonetsk and were destroying critical industrial facilities, including railway depots, a brick factory and a glass factory in neighboring Lysychansk. “(The Russians) are destroying world-famous factories. “Thousands of Sievierodonetsk residents dream of returning and passing the first checkpoint in Azot (chemical plant), but the enemy is destroying both the city itself and the chemical industry,” he said. The accuracy of Haidai’s allegations could not be immediately verified.

EUROPEAN UNION LEADER RETURN TO KIEV European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv on Saturday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Von der Leyen said she and Zelenksyy would “take stock of the joint work needed to rebuild and the progress Ukraine has made on its European path.” The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is expected to issue an opinion next week on Ukraine’s request for EU candidate status, which would be a first step on the road to accession. Von der Leyen is making its second visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor. He was one of the first European leaders to visit Ukraine during the war.

RUSSIAN PASSPORTS FOR RESIDENTS OF MELITOPOLIS Russian forces occupying Melitopol in southern Ukraine began issuing Russian passports to locals on Saturday, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency. A post in the TASS Telegram cited a local official based in Russia as the original source of the information. He did not specify how many residents of Melitopolis had applied for or received Russian citizenship. Earlier on Saturday, the agency reported that more than 800,000 people in separatist-controlled territories in industrialized eastern Ukraine had obtained Russian citizenship “through a simplified process” since April 2019. Melitopol is located outside the Donbas in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is still partly occupied by Ukraine.

APOLOGY OF DEATHS FOR CHILDREN Nearly 800 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, at least 287 children died as a result of military activity, while at least 492 others were injured. The statement said the figures were not conclusive and that they were based on investigations by juvenile prosecutors. The official said children in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, which together with Luhansk is Donbass, suffered the most, with 217 dead or injured, compared to 132 and 116, respectively, in the Kharkiv and Kyiv regions.

RUSSIA PRESSES EASTERN ATTACK The Ukrainian army announced on Saturday that Russian forces were regrouping to launch an attack on the city of Slovyansk in the Donetsk region. Moscow-backed rebels have controlled the self-proclaimed democracies in both Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014, and Russia has been trying to seize territory still under Ukrainian control. In its regular operational briefing, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russian troops had managed to capture the ground overnight in the village of Bohorodychne, 24 km (about 15 miles) northwest of Sloviansk, and were preparing to enter the city. Donetsk regional police said Russian missiles hit 13 towns and villages in the province overnight. In a statement, police said civilians were killed and wounded, without specifying numbers. Donetsk and Luhansk are Donbass, The Ukrainian military said in a statement that the threat of missiles and air strikes on Ukraine from Belarus remained, adding that the Belarussian government had extended military exercises along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border until 18 June.

RUSSIAN BULLET OF HARKIV Four civilians were killed and two were injured in Russian bombings in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region on Friday, regional emergency services said on Saturday. According to the Central Directorate of the State Emergency Service in the area, a Russian shell destroyed a private house in the town of Tskalovsk, killing four people. Two others were injured in “mass bombings” of homes in Derhatsi, on the outskirts of the regional capital, Kharkiv, he said. The Kharkiv region, home to Ukraine’s second largest city, is located north of Donbass.

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