Ukraine: Russia said to be using more deadly weapons in war

Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides.

Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they “are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties,” the ministry said.

Both sides have expended large amounts of weaponry in what has become a grinding war of attrition for the eastern region of coal mines and factories known as the Donbas, placing huge strains on their resources and stockpiles.

Russia is likely using the 5.5-tonne (6.1-ton) anti-ship missiles because it is running short of more precise modern missiles, the British ministry said. It gave no details of where exactly such missiles are thought to have been deployed.

As Russia also sought to consolidate its hold over territory seized so far in the 108-day war, the U.S. Defense Secretary said Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine “is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all.”

“It’s what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors,” Lloyd Austin said during a visit to Asia. “And it’s a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in.”

FLAMETHROWERS USED IN LUHANSK: GOVERNOR

A Ukrainian governor accused Russia of using incendiary weapons in a village in the eastern province of Luhansk, southwest of the fiercely contested cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.

While the use of flamethrowers on the battlefield is legal, provincial Gov. Serhii Haidai alleged the overnight attacks in Vrubivka caused widespread damage to civilian facilities and an unknown number of victims.

“At night, the enemy used a flamethrower rocket system -many houses burnt down,” Haidai wrote on Telegram on Saturday. His claim could not be immediately verified.

Sievierodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk are the last major areas of Luhansk remaining under Ukrainian control. Haidai said Russian forces destroyed railway depots, a brick factory and a glass factory.

The Ukrainian army said Saturday that Russian forces also were to launch an offensive on the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk province, which together with Luhansk makes up the Donbas,

Moscow-backed rebels have controlled self-proclaimed republics in both provinces since 2014, and Russia is trying to seize the territory still in Ukrainian hands.

UKRAINE PRESIDENT ADDRESSES NATION

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said later, in his nightly video address, that fierce street battles were continuing in Sievierodonetsk and he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders who for weeks have held back the Russian advance.

“Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas?” the president said. “It’s already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding.”

Zelenskyy said Russian forces are being pushed out of parts of the Kherson region they occupied early in the war. He also reported some success in the Zaporizhzhia region.

He added that no one knows how long the war will last, but Ukraine should do everything it can so that the Russians “regret everything that they have done and that they answer for every killing and every strike on our beautiful state.”

BATTLE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT

Hundreds of Ukrainian troops remained blockaded inside a chemical plant on the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk, but some of the civilians with them have started to come out, an envoy for Russian-backed separatists said Saturday.

Several hundred civilians could still be inside the Azot plant, where they sought safety from the shelling in underground shelters, Rodion Miroshnik said via Telegram.

As the circle around the Ukrainian troops tightens, he said, the civilians will be able to leave and Russian forces “are preparing transportation for their evacuation.” The troops will be allowed to leave only if they lay down their arms and surrender, he added.

Luhansk Gov. Haidai said the Russians shelled the plant “for hours” and a big fire broke out. He made no mention of the troops or civilians referenced by Miroshnik.

DEATH TOLL AMONG CHILDREN

Nearly 800 children have been killed or wounded in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday.

According to a statement by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, at least 287 children died as a result of military activity, while at least 492 more have been hurt. The statement stressed the figures were not final and said they were based on investigations by juvenile prosecutors.

The office said children in Donetsk province have suffered the most, with 217 reported killed or wounded, compared with 132 and 116, respectively, in the Kharkiv and Kyiv regions.