Sharjah24 - Reuters: Russian forces kept up their bombardment of cities across Ukraine, with intense shelling of Sumy in the north, cluster bombs targeting Mykolaiv and a missile strike in Odesa in the south, authorities said on Tuesday.
After failing to capture the capital Kyiv at the outset of the invasion on Feb 24, Russia has shifted to a campaign of devastating bombardments to cement and extend its control of Ukraine's south and east.
Ukraine says Russian forces have intensified long-distance strikes on targets far from the front, killing large numbers of civilians. Moscow says it is hitting military targets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia had fired more than 3,000 cruise missiles and uncountable artillery shells during the five-month conflict.
Over the weekend, Zelenskiy suspended the country's security chief and top prosecutor, saying they failed to purge Russian spies from their organizations.
Despite his disclosure of Russian penetration of the SBU, U.S. officials on Monday said Washington would continue sharing intelligence that U.S. officials have said Kyiv uses to respond to Moscow's attacks.
This week could be pivotal for European countries concerned about the impact of war and sanctions on gas supplies.
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