Rockets hit the northeastern town of Chuhuiv in Kharkiv region overnight, killing three people including a 70-year-old woman and wounding three others, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.
"Three people lost their lives, why? What for? Because Putin went mad?" said Raisa Shapoval, 83, a perplexed resident sitting in the ruins of her home.
To the south, more than 50 Russian Grad rockets pounded the city of Nikopol, on the Dnipro River, killing two people who were discovered in the rubble, the region's governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.
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Ukraine says at least 40 people have been killed in such attacks on urban areas in the last three days. Russia says it has been striking military targets.
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Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered military units to ramp up their operations to prevent Ukrainian strikes on eastern Ukraine and other areas held by Russia, where he said Kyiv could hit civilian infrastructure or residents.
"Clearly, preparations are now under way for the next stage of the offensive," said Vadym Skibitskyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence, adding that there was Russian shelling along the entire front line and active use of attack helicopters.
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Shoigu, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shown in military exhaustion at a command post on the defense ministry's Zvezda TV channel being briefed on the war and awarding "Golden Star" medals for heroism to two generals.
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His comments seemed to respond to what Kyiv says is a series of successful strikes carried out on 30 Russian logistics and ammunition hubs using several launch rocket systems recently supplied by the West.
Ukraine's defense ministry spokesperson said on Friday that the strikes were causing mayhem with Russian supply lines and had significantly reduced Russia's offensive capability.
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On Saturday, the Ukrainian military said Russia seemed to be regrouping units for an offensive towards Sloviansk, a symbolically important city held by Ukraine in the Donetsk region.
While the direction of the war has moved to Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, Russian forces have been striking cities elsewhere in the country with missiles and rockets in what has become an increasingly attritional conflict.
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Moscow, which established what it called its "special military operation" against Ukraine on Feb. 24, says it uses high-precision weapons to degrade Ukraine's military infrastructure and protect its own security. It has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.
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Kyiv and the West say the conflict is a baseless attempt to retake a country that broke free of Moscow's rule with the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
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