Days after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia has not “started in earnest yet” its efforts, as the war approaches its five-month mark, Russian defence minister ordered the forces on Saturday to intensify attacks “in all operational sectors” of Ukraine. According to Pentagon reports, as many as 150 civilians have died because of Russian airstrikes in the past two weeks.

As the Russian troops step up attacks beyond the front lines, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has imposed an air alert across the country. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has stated that about 70 percent of Russian strikes have targeted non-military infrastructure. There have been missile attacks since Friday, targeting residential areas in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the southern city of Mykolaiv, and the eastern cities of Chuhuiv and Nikopol.

US National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday that the United States had intelligence report pertaining to the visit of Russian officials to an airfield in Iran twice recently to examine the drones they are probably acquiring for the war. The White House released a satellite imagery that showed “attack-capable” unmanned aerial vehicles in flight while a Russian delegation transport plane was at the airfield. Iran had dismissed the US accusations on Friday that it was planning to supply Russia with hundreds of drones as “baseless.”

- WP