Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions shelled, power lines and gas pipelines damaged; Lloyd Austin again in Kiev

Ukrainian authorities announced that Russian shelling killed three people and damaged power lines and a gas pipeline in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, as well as in Kherson.

An elderly woman was killed and a man was wounded in an artillery attack on Nikopolj, he said Telegram Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Serhiy Lisak.

Two men were killed when Russian forces shelled a private transport company in a parking lot in Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin announced.

(Reuters)

Russian pPresident Vladimir Putin outwill Russia’s view of what it sees as a “deeply unstable world situation” when he addresses the upcoming G20 virtual summit.

It will be the first event in which, after a long time, the Russian president will participate together with Western leaders. The G20 virtual summit will be held on Wednesday.

(Ria Novosti)

The Kremlin said it regretted Finland’s decision to close border crossings with Russia, saying it reflected the adoption of Helsinki’s anti-Russian stance.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also rejected Finland’s accusations that Russia was deliberately pushing illegal migrants to the border and said Russian border guards were following all instructions.

Finland, a member of the European Union and NATO, closed four border crossings with Russia on Saturday as Helsinki tries to stem an influx of asylum seekers it says was fueled by Moscow.

(Reuters)

Two people were killed in this morning’s Russian shelling of the city of Kherson in the south of Ukraine, local authorities announced, stating that the target was a parking lot.

The governor of Kherson, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that the two dead were drivers who worked for a private trucking company, and the regional prosecutor’s office opened a war crime investigation in connection with the artillery attack, reports the London Guardian.

Pictures posted on Telegram show firefighters putting out burning vehicles.

Russian Air Defense Forces shot down a Ukrainian drone flying towards Moscow over the Moscow region, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

He wrote on Telegram that, according to preliminary information, there were no victims or damage at the place where the parts of the drone fell.

The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that a Ukrainian drone was intercepted over the Mosovo region.

Since the beginning of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February of last year, Russia has announced almost daily that Ukraine is launching drones on its border areas with Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula and Moscow.

(Interfax)

American Defense Minister Lloyd Austin arrived on a visit to Kyiv.

“I have come to convey an important message – the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine in its fight for freedom against Russian aggression now and in the future,” Austin said on the X platform.

Ukraine’s military said it had pushed Russian forces “three to eight kilometers” from the banks of the Dnieper River, which, if confirmed, would be the first significant advance by Ukrainian forces in months backwards.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been entrenched on opposite sides of the vast waterway in the southern Kherson region for more than a year, after Russia withdrew its troops from the west coast last November.

(Reuters)

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the commander of the military medical forces, Major General Tetyana Ostashchenko, and said that “new priorities have been set” in the operations of the Ukrainian army after a meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

“There is little time left to wait for the results. Quick action is needed for the upcoming changes,” said the Ukrainian president.

(Reuters)