The top United Nations official in Ukraine said on Thursday she was shocked by military strikes that killed children and other civilians in Chaplyne in central Ukraine on Wednesday, and called on all parties to adhere to international law.
Artillery shells rained down on a city close to Europe's biggest nuclear plant overnight and Russian missiles hit targets near Odesa, a Ukrainian Black Sea port and grain export hub, as the war headed for its six-month milestone on Wednesday.
The first vessel transporting Ukrainian wheat to support humanitarian operations of the World Food Programme (WFP) has left the port of Yuzhny to the Horn of Africa.
Moscow denounced sabotage and Ukraine hinted at responsibility for new explosions on Tuesday at a military base in the Russian-annexed Crimea region that is an important supply line for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.