Ukraine says four civilians killed and seven wounded by Russian shells

At least four civilians were killed and seven others were wounded by Russian shelling in the past 24 hours across several regions of Ukraine, the country’s presidential office said on Monday.

Most of the casualties were in the eastern Donetsk region, where three people were killed and four were wounded. A large chunk of Donetsk is held by Russia-allied separatists.

In the Kharkiv region, further north, three people were wounded when a rocket hit a residential building, the president’s office said.

Russian shells struck more than a dozen residential buildings along with a school, cafes and stores as the war stretched into its seventh month.

At the same time, a counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces “is making verifiable progress in the south and the east” of the country, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.

“The pace of the counter-offensive will likely change dramatically from day to day as Ukrainian forces work to starve the Russians of necessary supplies, disrupt their command and control, and weaken their morale even as counteroffensive ground assaults continue,” the institute said late on Sunday.

It predicted that Russian forces will launch “fierce artillery and air attacks” against the advancing Ukrainian troops and on any areas they liberate.