Oleksandr

On a bright winter day, workers at a Ukrainian thermal power plant repair its heavily damaged equipment as drops of water from melted snow leak through gaping holes in its battered roof.

Several weeks earlier, the facility was targeted by a Russian air attack that left scorch marks, shrapnel scars on the walls and missile fragments scattered across the production floor.

Russian forces have escalated attacks near Toretsk, a frontline town in eastern Ukraine that has remained relatively calm over recent months of fighting, officials and AFP journalists reported Wednesday.

Ukrainian forces lacking critical manpower and arms have struggled to hold the line in the eastern Donbas region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

Tragedy struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa as Russia unleashed a devastating assault, claiming the lives of five people and leaving over 30 injured. The attack, which targeted residential areas, has sent shockwaves through the city and plunged it into mourning.

ON THE FRONT LINES, Southern Ukraine — They have NATO equipment and Western training. Some have English-speaking commanders, unusual in the Ukrainian military, and even an American-accented, evangelical chaplain.

Over 30 people were injured in Kyiv as a result of the enemy shelling; the number of dead is being specified, spokeswoman of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service Svetlana Vodolaga told Ukrinform today.

According to her, rescue teams are working simultaneously in several places in the capital.