Russian shelling killed two people in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region on Thursday, authorities said, as Moscow ramps up its assault to capture the war-battered region.
Outgunned and outmanned on the battlefield, Kyiv has ceded ground to Russian forces since late last year, evacuating hundreds of civilians from frontline areas amid an uptick in bombardment.
In Selydove, 20 kilometers from the front, a Russian attack early in the morning killed a woman, while shelling killed a man in the frontline town of Ocheretyne, officials said.
"The Russians fired 17 times at settlements in the Donetsk region over a day. 127 people were evacuated from the frontline, including 13 children," regional head Vadim Filashkin said in a post on Telegram.
Two people were injured in the nearby town of Krasnohorivka, he added, while in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, officials said Russian shelling wounded at least 16 others.
The shelling came as Russia said it had thwarted a series of Ukrainian attacks on its border territories, downing two missiles and over a dozen drones over the western Belgorod region.
The Defense Ministry said it neutralized 20 UAVs in the attack, as well as five small balloons designed to deflect the attention of air defense systems.
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