Ukraine: Russian rockets struck a city in southern Ukraine on Saturday, the latest in a series of bombings that Ukraine has claimed have killed dozens in recent days, while Moscow's defense ministry said its The forces were ordered to step up their campaign.

In the southern city of Nikopol, two people died, according to emergency services, regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said, adding that the city was hit by more than 50 Russian rockets.
While the focus of the war has shifted to Ukraine's eastern Donbass region, Russia's military is attacking cities across the country in an attempt to grind it down.

According to a spokesman for Ukraine's Defense Ministry, only 30% of Russian attacks hit military bases, with the rest landing on civilian targets. Reuters was unable to confirm that claim.

According to Ukraine, about 40 people have been killed in such attacks in urban areas in the past three days.
Late on Friday, Russian missiles struck Dnipro, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Nikopol, killing three people and wounding 15, according to Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, on Telegram.
They claimed that the rocket hit an industrial plant and a nearby road. Social media footage showed dark smoke rising from burning buildings and cars.

According to the regional governor, three people were killed and three others wounded in an overnight Russian attack in the northeastern city of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region.

On 24 February, Russia launched a "special military operation" against Ukraine, claiming that the goal was to root out "dangerous nationalists". It claims to have used high-precision weapons to degrade Ukraine's military infrastructure, as well as protect its own security.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of shelling its own people in the eastern region, over which it has lost control.

On Saturday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced on its website that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had instructed military units to step up operations to deter attacks on eastern Ukraine and other Russian-controlled regions.
Shoigu gave "the necessary instructions to further enhance the actions of the groups in all operational areas in order to exclude the possibility of the Kyiv regime launching large-scale rocket and artillery attacks on civilian infrastructure and residents of settlements in the Donbass and other areas.

Ukraine claims that more and more people are being evacuated from the territories seized by the Russian military, which it and the West claim in an unprovoked attempt to take back a country that had been liberated from Moscow's rule with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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