Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

(Reuters) – Russia fired two missiles into Kyiv during a visit by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow pressed an assault in the east that drew new U.S. pledges of military and humanitarian aid.

FIGHTING

* “The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions,” Ukraine’s military command said.* Ukraine fired three rockets at the centre of the southern city of Kherson but Russian occupying forces shot down two of them, RIA news agency cited a security source as saying.* Ukraine has suffered serious losses in the war with Russia but Moscow’s forces have lost many more soldiers, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video posted online.

* Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a pro-Ukraine rally in the occupied city of Kherson, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said, as Moscow tightened its grip over the southern region.

* Two powerful blasts were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, two witnesses told Reuters. It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts.

* Western countries are openly calling on Ukraine to attack Russia and the West should take Moscow seriously when it says strikes on Russian territory will lead to a response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.* Russia is preventing wounded Ukrainian fighters from being evacuated from a vast steel works in Mariupol because it wants to capture them, the local governor said.

Reports of battlefield developments could not be immediately verified by Reuters.

WEST’S RESPONSE

* The U.S. mission to the OSCE said the Kremlin might attempt “sham referenda” in southern and eastern areas it had captured since the Feb. 24 invasion, using “a well-worn playbook that steals from history’s darkest chapters”.

* NATO is ready to maintain support for Ukraine for years in the war against Russia, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

HUMAN AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

* The bodies of 1,150 civilians have been recovered in Ukraine’s Kyiv region since Russia’s invasion and 50-70% of them have bullet wounds from small arms, Kyiv police said.

* Real disposable incomes in Russia dropped 27.8% in the first quarter of 2022, the official statistics service said.

* Ukraine accused Russia of stealing grain in territory it has occupied. The Kremlin said it had no information on the matter.

(Compiled by Angus MacSwan, Toby Chopra and Cynthia Osterman)