Breaking news and news from Russia’s war in Ukraine

People look at the ruins of a house destroyed as a result of a suspected missile attack in a residential area of ​​Kharkiv on July 11, 2022. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images) The Ukrainian military has reported the existence of extensive fighting in the north and south in the last 24 hours, with Ukrainian forces going on the offensive in the south and Russian artillery active in Donetsk and Kharkiv. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian forces had attempted to advance into the Kharkiv region — some 20 kilometers north of the city — but had been repulsed. However, they continued to shell districts near the city of Kharkiv and other parts of the region. Two men were killed in the shelling of the town of Zolochiv, near the Russian border, according to the regional military administration. In total, “in the Kharkiv region, 7 people were killed and 34 wounded as a result of the occupiers’ shelling,” the administration said. The General Staff said that there had been no change in the front lines north of the city of Sloviansk, stating: “All actions of the enemy in the direction of these settlements were unsuccessful.” But the Russian shelling of the city from a distance continues; one person was injured overnight when a residential building was hit, according to local authorities. The General Staff said the Russians were also trying to improve their tactical positions further south in the Donetsk region, with missile and rocket attacks on several areas, including Toretsk. The Russians’ goal is to approach the parts of the region still held by Ukrainian forces (about 45% of the region) from three directions. But since the fall of Lisichansk, in neighboring Luhansk, the front lines in Donetsk have changed little. In southern Ukraine, it is the Russians who are largely on the defensive as Ukrainian forces try to advance into the Kherson region. The General Staff said on Tuesday that “the enemy is concentrating its efforts on keeping the positions occupied and preventing the offensive of the units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.” The fighting in Kherson is partly responsible for the widespread fires. The regional military administration reported that “in early July, emergency workers recorded 75 fires on almost 300,000 hectares.” The Ukrainian military’s Southern Operational Command said three Russian ammunition depots had been hit in Russian-controlled parts of Mykolaiv and Ukrainian helicopters had attacked Russian positions in neighboring Kherson. Serhii Khlan, adviser to the head of Kherson’s civil military administration, said on Tuesday that “our armed forces began attacking positions near Pravdyne, Oleksandrivka and Snigurivka with helicopters. [en las regiones de Jersón y Mykolaiv]”We have already launched attacks along almost the entire front line,” Khlan said, and the Russians were now reinforcing their checkpoints “because the partisan movement is intensifying in the Kherson region….. with concrete indications that the occupiers are preparing for street battles.” CNN cannot verify Khlan’s claims, but there has recently been an increase in Ukrainian offensive actions in Kherson and Mykolaiv.