At least seven civilians, including four members of one family, were killed by Russian shelling in southern Ukraine as fighting continued in both the south and east of the country, Kyiv said on August 13, amid reports of Ukrainian battlefield gains in the ongoing southern counteroffensive.
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A couple, their infant daughter, and 12-year-old son were killed in an attack in the Shyroka Balka municipality in the Kherson region, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram.
He added that a total of seven civilians had been killed and 20 injured in the Kherson region during shelling that damaged residential buildings in several settlements,
"The terrorists will never willingly stop killing civilians. Terrorists must be stopped. [By] force. They do not understand anything else," he said.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the pastor of a church and a fellow villager in Stanislav were among the dead as a result of the Russian strikes.
Shelling was also reported in civilian areas around the city of Nikopol, in the southern Zaporizhzhya region. No casualties were reported after “almost a dozen shells” struck Nikopol and the town of Chervonogrygorivsk, according to local officials.
The Ukrainian General Staff said its troops had achieved “partial success” around Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhya region, with some social media postings indicating Ukrainian troops had entered the small settlement that stands in the way of Kyiv’s southern push toward Melitopol.
Earlier, the Ukrainian General Staff reported 39 clashes in the preceding 24 hours with fighting in the eastern part of the Kharkiv region, the western part of the Donetsk region, and in the area around Robotyne.
Vadim Rogov, a Russia-installed occupation official in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region, said Ukrainian forces had pierced Russian lines and “gained a foothold” in the settlement of Urozhayne, in the southwestern part of the Donetsk region.
Rogov said Ukrainian forces were trying to take control of the nearby town of Staromlynivka.
Russian news agencies reported on August 13 that traffic had been temporarily halted on the bridge connecting Russia with occupied Crimea over the Kerch Strait.
No reason was given for the suspension of traffic, which later resumed, according to Russian officials.
The bridge has been damaged several times in recent months by suspected Ukrainian missile and drone attacks.
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In July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the bridge is being “used to supply ammunition for war, and this is done every day" and that it must be neutralized.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported “thwarting” Ukrainian efforts to “carry out terrorist attacks on objects in Russia.” The ministry said three Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the Belgorod region and a fourth in the Kursk region. No casualties or damages were reported.
The governor of the Belgorod region of Russia near the Ukrainian border said late on August 13 that several apartments had been damaged due to an attack by Ukrainian drones.
Kyiv rarely comments on claims of attacks inside of Russia. There was no immediate word of possible casualties.
Moscow also reported firing a warning shot near a cargo ship in the Black Sea. The Palau-flagged vessel reportedly stopped and was searched before being allowed to head to the Ukrainian Danube River port of Ismail.
RFE/RL is not able to independently verify combat reports from areas of heavy fighting.
In an update on August 13, Britain’s Defense Ministry reported that Russia’s Wagner mercenary group is “likely moving toward a downsizing…at a time of financial pressure.”
The ministry said it is likely the Kremlin has largely stopped funding the notorious group in the wake of an attempted armed mutiny in June.