Today, Thursday, July 21, 2022, Russian bombardment killed at least two people and injured 23 in Kharviv; Ukraine’s second largest city, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

“The Russian enemy attacks streets of the city, trade pavilions, and residential infrastructure only,” said Oleh Synyehubov, head of Kharkiv region military administration. Launching a criminal investigation into the attacks, the office said the Russian military also shelled the Saltivskyi district of Kharkiv, hitting a residential building and injuring three civilians.  ‘Russia also attacked a public transport stop near the market in the Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv with Uragan rocket launchers on July 21 at 9:30 a.m. local time, the prosecutor’s office posted on Telegram.

It was gathered that there was also heavy shelling of the town of Chuhuiv overnight, according to the regional military administration. The administration also said the water treatment plant was also damaged. Synyehubov further said that despite the relentless shelling in the Kharkiv region, “since May, the enemy has not taken new territory; not even a single meter.”

“Our forces are holding their positions and trying to move forward. But the enemy focused its attention precisely on the defense of its own positions. It is not leaving Kharkiv region voluntarily,” Synyehubov, added.

The shelling follows a series of Russian bombardments on the northeastern city this week. A 13-year-old boy was among three victims of a Russian attack in the Saltivskyi district of Kharkiv on Wednesday.

At the time, Synehubov advised people in Kharkiv before the start of Russia’s invasion not to go outside unless necessary.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow wants to capture territory in southern Ukraine beyond the Donbas region. Russia failed in early stages of its five-month offensive to topple the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or capture the capital, Kyiv, in northern Ukraine.

However, Lavrov said in an interview on Wednesday with the state media that Russia no longer feels constrained to fighting in the Donbas where Russian separatists have been battling Kyiv’s forces since 2014, when Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

The U.S. announced also on Wednesday, plans to send four more rocket systems to Ukraine, along with more artillery rounds. “Ukrainian forces are now using long-range rocket systems to great effect, including HIMARS provided by the United States, and other systems from our allies and partners,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday at the Pentagon. “Ukraine’s defenders are pushing hard to hold Russia’s advances in the Donbas.”

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Ukrainians have been using U.S.-supplied multiple rocket launchers to hit Russian command centers and supply lines, including a strategically important bridge across the Dnieper River in the Kherson region.

Russian officials said the bridge has sustained damage but is still open to some traffic. The Russian military would be hard-pressed to keep supplying its forces in the region if the bridge were destroyed.

“The Ukrainians are making the Russians pay for every inch of territory that they gain,” Milley said, and the Donbas is “not lost yet. The Ukrainians intend to continue the fight.” The future will depend on the number of long-range rockets and ammunition the Ukrainians have, Miley buttressed.

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