UKRaine Launches Airstrikes on RUssian-Held Targets; RU says its border regions attacked; UKR forces repel RU attack near Avdiivka, despite chemical weapons use; UKR shoots down 10 missiles in RU attacks, oil depot hit, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

WSJ: Ukraine Launches Airstrikes on Russian-Held Targets:

Ukraine’s armed forces said its air force launched strikes on 11 Russian clusters of personnel and equipment over the past day as anticipation grew that Kyiv was on the brink of beginning a long-awaited offensive to regain lost territory.

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhniy, meanwhile released what the military called a support campaign in the form of a video glorifying the country’s fighting forces and vowing that “the time has come to take back what’s ours.” Lavishly produced and posted on Facebook, it further stirred speculation that a Ukrainian attempt to regain ground to the east and south was about to begin.

Other Ukrainian officials in recent days have played down expectations of a single, decisive engagement, saying the offensive would consist of a series of operations that are already under way. The mixed messages may be aimed at confusing Russia as to Ukraine’s objective.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff didn’t specify where the airstrikes were directed Saturday, but they appear to follow a long-established pattern of disrupting Russian supply lines. They also came on the heels of another extensive Russian barrage as Moscow attempts to hit targets throughout Ukraine far behind the front lines of the conflict. The Russian attacks, which ran from late Thursday and into Friday, included strikes using Russian cruise missiles fired from the Caspian Sea region, repurposed S-300 and S-400 antiaircraft missiles, and Iranian-made suicide drones.

Among the buildings destroyed was a medical clinic in the city of Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine on Friday. At least two people were killed and more than 30 others wounded, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the strike as “another crime against humanity.”

Officials in Russia’s western Pskov region Saturday said an explosion occurred in a building of an oil pipeline company following an attack by two drones. The blast damaged the structure but caused no casualties, according to Mikhail Vedernikov, the region’s governor who reported the incident on his Telegram messenger channel. Authorities in Russia’s Tver region, northwest of Moscow, also reported the crash of a drone there, but said no one was injured and the situation was under control. —>READ MORE HERE

Russia says its border regions attacked; Moscow’s forces hit clinic in central Ukrainian city:

Russia’s southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine came under attack Friday from Ukrainian artillery fire, mortar shells and drones, authorities said, hours after two drones struck a Russian city in an area next to the annexed Crimea Peninsula.

Moscow’s forces, meanwhile, struck a building containing psychology and veterinary clinics in the city of Dnipro, in central Ukraine, killing two people and wounding 30, including two children, Ukrainian officials said.

Video released by regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak showed fire engulfing the three-story building that appeared almost destroyed, with only parts of a wall standing, as firefighters battled the flames.

A Russian S-300 missile hit a dam in the Karlivka district of Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine, threatening nearby settlements with flooding.

The town of Graivoron in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 7 kilometers (more than 4 miles) from the Ukrainian border, came under fire for several hours, damaging four houses, a store, a car, a gas pipeline and a power line, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Closer to the frontier, a recreation center, a shop and an empty house were damaged in the village of Glotovo. One woman was wounded when nearby Novaya Tavolzhanka was shelled, Gladkov said.

Earlier this week, the Belgorod region was the target of one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago. Details of the raid were murky. Russia blamed the Ukrainian armed forces, but two Russian groups said they were involved, with the aim of bringing down Russian President Vladimir Putin. —>READ MORE HERE

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