Isabel Coles

The Russian president traveled to the Kherson and Luhansk regions and was briefed by senior officers, the Kremlin said, without specifying when the trip took place.

Ukraine’s president vowed to hold Russia accountable after a barrage of cruise missiles killed more than two dozen people last week, as battles rage in the east of the country ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The heavy attack came as Moscow seeks to wear down Ukraine’s air defenses ahead of Kyiv’s planned offensive and follows a string of assaults on Russian territory.

Russia has intensified its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, as Kyiv readies for an offensive using new Western weapons.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said that around 10,000 former prisoners out of the 50,000 he recruited to fight in Ukraine had been killed, while an additional 10,000 regular servicemen from his forces had also perished.

Ukraine’s armed forces said its air force launched strikes on 11 Russian clusters of personnel and equipment over the past day as anticipation grew that Kyiv was on the brink of beginning a long-awaited offensive to regain lost territory.

The strikes targeted military facilities and infrastructure in an escalating campaign to disrupt Ukraine’s preparations for an offensive it has signaled could be imminent.

Victory in Bakhmut has given Russia something to show for its efforts after months without any meaningful gain, but its forces appear unable to capitalize on it.

Floodwaters are forcing thousands of people to flee their homes, adding another dimension to a humanitarian crisis resulting from the war.

The attacks came as Kyiv released information suggesting that Russian saboteurs ere responsible for the destruction of a dam in southern Ukraine.