Star Metro - Strikes kills 11 in Ukraine region under Russian offensive

Russian forces since May 10 carried out a ground assault in the northeastern region, where they achieved their biggest territorial gains in a year-and-a-half.

Their progress had been stopped, Kyiv said -- a claim contradicted by Moscow.

Six people -- including a pregnant woman -- were killed on the outskirts of Kharkiv city by a missile attack launched from Russia's territory of Belgorod, Ukrainian authorities said.

Twenty-seven were wounded in the strike on a recreation centre, with one employee missing, the prosecutors office said.

"Among the wounded is a police officer and an ambulance paramedic who came to help people after the first hit," the Kharkiv prosecutors office said.

It accused Russian forces of "once again using the tactic of 'repeated strike'... aimed at killing civilians, law enforcement officers, medics, and rescuers."

Russia has often been accused of using "double-tap" attacks, in which a second strike follows shortly after the first, increasing the chances of casualties among those responding to the initial incident.

Moscow insists it only targets military infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the strike, saying Russia used its weapons to "terrorise our cities and communities, to kill ordinary people".

Zelensky asked for "two Patriots for Kharkiv (which) will fundamentally change the situation", referring to the sophisticated US-made air defence system.

- Offensive in the Kharkiv region -

Shortly after, authorities reported another attack in the Kharkiv region.

"Five civilians were killed and nine injured as a result of shelling of Novoosynove and Kivsharivka villages with multiple rocket launchers," governor Oleg Synegubov said.

After launching increased aerial strikes, Russia carried out a ground assault in the border region on May 10.

It had mostly been under control from Ukrainian forces, which pushed back Moscow's troops that had occupied it between spring and fall 2022.

But Russian troops surged through defence lines on Friday, opening a new front with artillery and aircraft, forcing thousands to flee.

Ukrainian police and volunteers evacuated just over 1,000 people in the region, Synegubov said in the morning.

Synegubov said "the enemy's advance in the Kharkiv and Kupiansk directions has been stopped."

Russian troops advanced between five and 10 kilometres (three to six miles) along the northeastern border before being halted by Ukrainian forces, Zelensky said in an interview with AFP on Friday.

Ukraine's General Staff said Russian attacks in the Kharkiv area "slowed down a bit" on Sunday but that forces "continue their attempts to break through our defences near Vovchansk, Starytsya, and Lyptsi."

Russia claimed to have seized Starytsya and on Sunday said its units "continued to advance into the depth of the enemy's defences".

- Russian refinery attacked -

Moscow said it shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them above the southern region of Krasnodar.

Six drones fell on the territory of the Slovyansk-on-Kuban refinery in the region and forced it to halt operations, its management and authorities said.

"There have been strikes. The plant is currently at a standstill. We are assessing the damage," Eduard Trutnev, the refinery head of security, told Interfax news agency.

The Slovyansk-on-Kuban refinery, in the Krasnodar region east of the Sea of Azov, is one of the biggest in southern Russia.

A Ukrainian defence source said its forces targeted the refinery and the Kushchyovsky military airfield.

"This is the second attack by (Ukraine's security service) drones on the Kushchyovsky military airfield and the Slovyansk refinery in the last three weeks," the source said.

"Several aircraft were hit at the airfield" and the refinery complex was hit, the source added.

Ukrainian air attacks targeted the border region of Belgorod and the Russian-occupied region of Kherson, where one person was killed when a drone hit a minibus of people going strawberry picking.

O.Martin--SMC