Ukraine: 6 civilians killed as Russia focuses fire in east
Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces members train on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky)
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A regional governor in eastern Ukraine says that at least six civilians have been killed by the latest Russian shelling in a town at the epicenter of fighting three months into the war.
Luhansk region Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Wednesday that another eight people have been wounded in the shelling of Sievierodonetsk over the past 24 hours. He accused the Russian troops of deliberately targeting shelters where civilians were hiding.
Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces members train on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky) 
People board transport during an evacuation of civilians in Soledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko) 
Two men carry a wooded panel next to heavily damaged buildings and destroyed cars in a Russian bombing in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The town of Bakhmut has been coming under increasing artillery strikes, particularly over the last week, as Russian forces try to press forward to encircle the city of Sieverodonetsk to the northeast. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 
Two women sit inside a van as they are evacuated in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The town of Bakhmut has been coming under increasing artillery strikes, particularly over the last week, as Russian forces try to press forward to encircle the city of Sieverodonetsk to the northeast. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 
A man walks next to heavily damaged residential buildings and destroyed cars after Russian bombing in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The town of Bakhmut has been coming under increasing artillery strikes, particularly over the last week, as Russian forces try to press forward to encircle the city of Sieverodonetsk to the northeast. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 
Residents carry out furniture from houses ruined by shelling in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) 
A resident walks outside houses ruined by shelling in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) 
A torn Ukraine flag waves among debris in a school destroyed in a Russian bombing in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The town of Bakhmut has been coming under increasing artillery strikes, particularly over the last week, as Russian forces try to press forward to encircle the city of Sieverodonetsk to the northeast. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 
Anna Dyachenko, left, sits with her three daughters Alina, Valeria, and Sonya in a children’s playground near their home in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The town of Bakhmut has been coming under increasing artillery strikes, particularly over the last week, as Russian forces try to press forward to encircle the city of Sieverodonetsk to the northeast. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 
A local resident stands next to a heavily damaged building in a Russian bombing opposite his house in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The town of Bakhmut has been coming under increasing artillery strikes, particularly over the last week, as Russian forces try to press forward to encircle the city of Sieverodonetsk to the northeast. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 
A boy plays in front of houses ruined by shelling in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Curfews, checkpoints and fortifications have become commonplace after 90 days of war in Ukraine. So have fresh cemeteries, uprooted villagers and war-scarred landscapes as Moscow intensifies its attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) 
Dried flower bouquets inside a flower shop in a temporary closed market Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The town is located in in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, where the Russian forces have been pressing their offensive despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.
Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swaths of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities are the only part of the Donbas’ Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Tuesday that the country’s forces in the region faced a difficult situation.
“Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there,” he said in his nightly address to the nation. “Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk — the occupiers want to destroy everything there.”
A solution to getting wheat out of Ukraine for export doesn’t appear to be imminent.
British military authorities say Ukraine’s overland export routes are “highly unlikely” to offset the problems caused by Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea port of Odessa, putting further pressure on global grain prices.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense, in an update posted Wednesday morning, says there has been no “significant” merchant shipping in or out of Odessa since the start of the Russian invasion.
The ministry says that the blockade, combined with the shortage of overland shipping routes, means that significant supplies of grain remain in storage and can’t be exported.
In other news from the war zone, the Russian military says the key Ukrainian port of Mariupol is functioning again after three months of fighting.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that the military has finished clearing the port of mines and it is now fully operational.
The Russian forces took control of Mariupol, the strategic port on the Sea of Azov, after the last Ukrainian defenders at the giant Azovstal seaside steel plant laid down their weapons.
