Russian shelling on Thursday killed two more civilians — an 81-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man — in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, according to local authorities, marking the latest deaths in Russia’s assault on the area.

The shelling targeted several villages, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged buildings.

The two deaths came after one person died Wednesday in Russian shelling in the region’s capital, which is also called Kherson. Prokudin called the damage left by the assault “an apocalyptic scene.”

Ukraine recaptured the city of Kherson last November after nearly nine months of Russian occupation. The Kherson region is a strategic area in the war, given its proximity to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014 and is now where Russia has based significant logistic operations.

Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday said Ukraine was “playing with fire” after Ukraine launched a drone attack near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station. The plant has been under Russian control since March 2022.

Russian forces shot down nine Ukrainian drones, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Kyiv “is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has regularly warned about the risk of a nuclear accident at the plant.

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive of more than four months slowly continues, General Valery Zaluzhny said the two sides had reached a stalemate.

“Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he told The Economist, adding, “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”

Moscow rejected that characterization of the war, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying, “Russia is steadily carrying out the special military operation. All the goals that were set should be fulfilled.”

Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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