‘Relenting’ Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine as US promises fresh aid

Russian troops continued their “relentless” shelling of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Saturday as the United States promised new military aid to Kyiv, including powerful rocket launchers.

After long battles to seize cities in the neighboring Lugansk region, Russia is now trying to penetrate deeper into Donetsk in order to consolidate its hold over the entire Donbass region.

Air raid sirens sounded overnight in the east and south of the country.

Residents in the small town of Druzhkivka, south of eastern Ukraine’s industrial city of Kramatorsk, woke up on Saturday to a suspected missile attack that ripped apart the storefront of a supermarket and left a huge crater in front of the store.

“The entire front is under relentless fire,” Donetsk military administration chief Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a telegram on Friday evening.

The city of Sloviansk, which Moscow’s troops are now targeting, is being “shot at day and night.”

He also accused Russian forces of setting agricultural fields on fire and said they were “trying to destroy crops by any means necessary”.

In a message on Saturday, he said five civilians had been killed the previous day.

Lugansk region governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Saturday the Russians would attack Donetsk from their bases in Lugansk.

“We’re trying to contain their armed formations along the entire front line… Where it’s uncomfortable for them to advance, they create a real hell and shell the areas on the horizon,” he said.

Kyrylenko warned that the Russians were increasing their troops in the region in preparation for further attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his late-night address that he spent the day at the front lines in the eastern Dnepropetrovsk region, where he met with civilian and military leaders.

“Officials must do not only everything possible, but much more than possible to guarantee people a normal standard of living even under such wartime conditions,” he said.

But in a Telegram message on Saturday, an official of the region’s military administration warned that Russia had “deliberately shelled residential areas” and continued to “terrorize” the towns and villages.

In the south of the country, the mayor of Mykolaiv asked citizens not to leave the shelters as explosions could be heard throughout the night.

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk was quoted by Ukrainian media as urging people in the occupied territories to evacuate by any means necessary.

“There will be massive fighting,” she said.

To give Kyiv a boost, Washington announced another $400 million in military aid, including some sort of “higher precision” artillery ammunition that had not previously been shipped.

“This is a further development of our support for Ukraine in this battle in Donbass,” a senior defense official was quoted as saying by the US Department of Defense.

Also included in the Auxiliary Pack are four additional high mobility artillery missile systems, adding to the existing eight.

“From a security support perspective, this is now a steady bang and a long-term commitment for Ukraine,” the same official was quoted as saying.

“We will be ready for whatever the experts tell us the battlefield requires.”

The United States also put diplomatic pressure on Russia at a meeting of the Group of 20 foreign ministers in Indonesia.

Washington and its allies condemned Russia’s attack at the gathering, before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov faced what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described as a barrage of Western criticism at the closed-door negotiations.

Lavrov stormed out of a morning meeting as German counterpart Annalena Baerbock criticized Moscow for the invasion, diplomats said.

He also left an afternoon session before Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed ministers virtually and was not present when Blinken condemned Russia.

“What we have heard today is a strong chorus from around the world… about the need to end aggression,” Blinken said at the gathering on the resort island of Bali on Friday.

Outside the Mulia Hotel, Lavrov remained defiant, accusing Western nations of avoiding “talking about global economic issues” instead of the war.

An official told AFP that even Moscow’s ally China has not offered “unreserved support” to the Russian position.

Blinken avoided a bilateral meeting with Lavrov, instead accusing Russia of triggering a global food crisis and urging Moscow to allow grain shipments from war-torn Ukraine.

“To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country. Your grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking the ports?