Ukrainian governor: Russia raising ‘true hell’ in the east
Associated PressKYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces are raising “true hell” in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, despite assessments they were taking an operational pause, a regional governor said Saturday, while another Ukrainian official urged people in Russian-occupied southern areas to evacuate quickly “by all possible means” before a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Zelenskyy’s office said he was briefed on the “construction of defensive structures,” the support of the troops, the supply of food and medicine to the city and the help given people who had fled to Kryvyi Rih after being driven out of their homes elsewhere in Ukraine. In northeast Ukraine, a Russian rocket strike on Saturday hit the center of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, injuring six people, including a 12-year-old girl, authorities said. — Ukraine’s sports minister, Vadym Gutzeit, said 100 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed either on the battlefield or from Russian shelling, while 22 were captured by Russian forces.