2/2

© Reuters. A worker from the war crimes prosecutor’s office takes in the damage from overnight shelling that landed on a building of Kharkiv’s Housing and Communal College as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues in Kharkiv, Ukraine, June 21, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Milli

2/2

(Reuters) – Powerful explosions rocked the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv early on Saturday, the mayor said, a day after authorities said at least 21 people were killed when Russian missiles struck an apartment building near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

FIGHTING

* Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “I would like to remind you of the president’s words that the Russian Armed Forces do not work with civilian targets.”

* Russians have been shelling the eastern city of Lysychansk from different directions, the regional governor said. Russian forces have captured an oil refinery, one report said, citing Russia’s defence ministry.

* Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.

DIPLOMACY AND ECONOMY

* The United States is sending Ukraine two NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, four additional counter-artillery radars and up to 150,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition as part of its latest weapons packages for Ukraine.

*President Vladimir Putin issued a decree that seizes full control of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project in Russia’s far east, a move that could force out Shell (LON:RDSa) and Japanese investors.

* A Reuters examination of companies, executives and investors underpinning Russia’s defence sector shows a sizable number have yet to be affected by Western sanctions.

* U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner went on trial in Moscow to face drug charges that could see her face up to 10 years in prison.

* Two Britons were charged with “mercenary activities” in the Russian-backed separatist region of Donetsk, Russian agency TASS reported. Last month, another two Britons accused of the same charge were sentenced to death.

* Russia’s ambassador to Bulgaria said she would ask Moscow to close its embassy in Sofia after 70 Russian diplomatic staff were expelled.

* Ukraine’s nuclear power operator said it had re-established its connection to surveillance systems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, which is occupied by Russian forces.

QUOTES

* “There are powerful explosions in the city! Stay in shelters!” Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Senkevich wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

* “Almost all the city infrastructure is destroyed. We are living without gas, electricity, and water since May,” Sergei Oleinik, 65, resident of Russian-occupied Sievierodonetsk, told Reuters. “We are glad that this ended, and soon maybe reconstruction will start, and we will be back to more or less normal life.”