Russia strikes Donbas cities amid talks to lift blockade of Ukraine ports

Russian missiles have hit government-controlled cities in eastern Ukraine as the leaders of Russia and Turkey met to discuss a potential plan to allow shipments of grain from Ukrainian ports that are now blockaded by Moscow’s navy.

Officials in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region said at least one person was killed and 10 injured in a missile strike on Tuesday, and the mayor of neighbouring Slovyansk said civilians were trapped in the rubble of residential buildings hit by rocket fire.

The two cities are coming under daily fire as Russia bids to seize the whole of the Donetsk province, which with neighbouring Luhansk regions makes up the Donbas area that the Kremlin made a military priority after being forced to abandon its attack on Kyiv.

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Moscow claims to have full control of Luhansk, but regional officials insist that parts of the area are still disputed, and Ukraine’s army says it has stopped Russia’s slow advance thanks largely to the delivery of long-range and highly accurate weapons from western allies.

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“We managed to stabilise the situation. It is difficult and tense, but completely under control,” said Valeriy Zaluzhny, the head of the Ukrainian military’s general staff.

“An important factor that has allowed us to maintain our defensive lines and positions is the timely arrival of M142 Himars, which deliver targeted strikes on enemy command posts and stores of ammunition and fuel,” he added, referring to US multiple-launch rocket systems that Ukraine is using to hit Russian positions deep in occupied territory.

Ukraine is lobbying western powers for more heavy weapons and artillery and says it is gradually retaking territory in southern areas, even as Russia continues to bombard and blockade the Black Sea ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the military had “inflicted significant logistical losses on the invaders. It is increasingly difficult for the Russian army to hold positions on occupied territory.

“Step by step, we advance, disrupt supplies for the occupiers, identify and neutralise collaborators,” he added, after replacing Ukraine’s prosecutor general and the head of its SBU security service for failing to root out treachery and collaboration in their agencies.

The United Nations says the blockade – which is preventing the export of some 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain – is pushing up global food prices and could exacerbate hunger in parts of Africa and Asia.

Senior UN and Turkish officials have said a deal is taking shape to ensure the safety of Black Sea cargo routes and establish a co-ordination centre, probably in Istanbul, where representatives of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the UN would monitor the exports.

Russian president Vladimir Putin flew to Tehran on Tuesday to meet Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mr Putin - on his first trip outside states of the former Soviet Union since he ordered the full invasion of Ukraine in February – was set to discuss with Mr Erdogan a deal to ease the Black Sea blockade, amid reports that the European Union may ease some sanctions on Russian banks to facilitate the arrangement.