Kiev [Ukraine], August 24: There has been an uptick in the number of civilians killed in the last day's battles between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides reporting fatalities on Wednesday as Kiev tries to take back land seized by Moscow.
At least six Ukrainian civilians were killed in Russian shelling and drone attacks, Ukrainian officials said.
At least two teachers were killed in a drone attack on a school in the Ukrainian town of Romny, in the north-eastern region of Sumy, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. Three others were injured.
Three more civilians were killed in an attack in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday and four were injured in artillery fire, the authorities said. At least one person was killed and 11 others injured by bomb and artillery attacks in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.
Massive artillery, drone and rocket attacks were also reported in the neighbouring Zaporizhzhya area, though there were no civilian casualties, the authorities said.
Russia also carried out a kamikaze drone attack on a port in southern Ukraine, a Ukrainian regional official said.
The strike hit production and transshipment facilities, causing a fire which covered 700 square metres, said Odessa regional governor Oleh Kiper. He also posted images that showed destroyed warehouses with grain.
The hit was near the Danube port of Izmail on the Romanian border, according to local media reports.
With Russia blockading Ukraine's Black Sea ports, the three Ukrainian Danube ports of Izmail, Reni and Ust-Dunaysk have become crucial for the import and export of goods, particularly grain.
Russia has repeatedly attacked port facilities and grain silos since an agreement allowing for the safe shipment of grain collapsed in July.
Meanwhile, three people were killed in Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod, the authorities said.
The drone dropped explosive charges over the village of Lavy, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Russian border areas have been reporting shelling, though the deaths and damage are on a vastly smaller scale compared to the killings and destruction in Ukraine.
In Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed it repelled Ukrainian drone attacks over the region surrounding the city in the early hours of Wednesday, state news agency TASS reported.
Two drones were shot down by Russian forces while a third crashed into a building under construction in the Moscow City complex, TASS cited the ministry as saying. No victims were reported.
Ukrainian military intelligence said it destroyed a Russian S-400 Triumph air defence system in Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Meanwhile, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has arrived in Ukraine for a two-day visit.
He arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kiev by train from Poland on Wednesday morning, the state television station RTP and other Portuguese media reported.
He was expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.
Rebelo de Sousa also plans to attend the summit of the international Crimea Platform forum.
Portugal is providing military support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion. It was one of the first Western allies to pledge to equip a Ukrainian battalion with Leopard 2A6 tanks.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation