LIVE – War in Ukraine: Ukrainian bombing kills 7 in occupied Kherson region

Ukraine on Tuesday announced an attack on Russian military units and a weapons depot in the occupied Kherson (southern) region, where Russian occupation officials said seven people were killed.

According to military officials responsible for the south of the country, Ukrainian bombers and missiles killed 52 Russian soldiers and hit “a warehouse with ammunition in Nova Khakovka”.

Russian occupation forces in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region said seven people were killed and around 60 wounded in a Monday-Tuesday overnight Ukrainian attack.

Vladimir Leontiev, head of the military-civilian administration established in the area by Russian forces, announced in Telegram that “already seven people have died and around 60 have been injured” in the strike that hit the town of Nova Khakovka.

It was not immediately possible to independently verify these claims.

The families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, who are imprisoned in Russia, have asked private negotiator Bill Richardson to try to free them. The former diplomat’s services were confirmed on Monday, with US media believing he would soon surrender in Moscow.

“Both the Whelan and Griner families have asked us to help free their loved ones,” Mickey Bergman, vice president for global engagement at the Richardson Center, told AFP.

Ukraine is expecting a new attack by the Russian military on strategic cities in the eastern part of the Donbass, a priority target of Moscow – while President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday accused Canada of undermining economic sanctions against Russia.

Europe, for its part, has entered a period of uncertainty over continued gas supplies from Russia, with Russian giant Gazprom beginning maintenance work on two Nord Stream 1 gas pipelines supplying Germany and other Western European countries.

Welcome to this live follow-up to the war in Ukraine