The United States on May 31 announced an aid package for Ukraine that includes Patriot air-defense batteries, ammunition, and other defense equipment as Ukrainian authorities said attacks by Russian troops killed one person in Ukraine's Donetsk region and one person in the Kherson region.
The security assistance package worth up to $300 million was announced by White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. It represents the 39th drawdown of equipment from the Defense Department inventories, the Pentagon said.
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In addition to the Patriots, the package includes Stinger antiaircraft systems, missiles for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), tank ammunition, and other equipment.
Indiscriminate Russian shelling earlier on May 31 killed one person and wounded one in Chasiv Yar near Horlivka, Donetsk regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, adding that another 10 civilians were wounded across the region.
Russian troops also attacked a community in the Kherson region, killing one person, said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration.
The reports could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian forces repelled 22 Russian attacks in the east, the General Staff said in its daily update, although the intensity of Moscow's offensive in and around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut appeared to have subsided, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar.
Malyar said that in Bakhmut, which has been the epicenter of the monthslong war in the east, Russian troops have not been conducting infantry operations, apparently regrouping their forces, but have been continuing shelling and launching air strikes on Ukrainian positions.
Valeriy Zaluzhniy, commander in chief of Ukrainian forces, said he spoke by phone with U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the situation at the front, further plans for the liberation of Ukrainian territory, and the possible actions of the enemy.
Zaluzhniy said on Telegram on May 31 that he and Milley discussed weapons supply, including ammunition, and the need for long-range projectiles. They also discussed the importance of working to strengthening Ukraine's air defense and F-16 fighter jets, he said, adding that they agreed to continue the dialogue.
Early on May 31, the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, Venyamin Kondratyev, said an alleged drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery. There were no casualties in the attack, part of an uptick in attacks on Russian territory.
WATCH: Amid a new wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, analysts in Kyiv are gaining useful intelligence from a collection of downed Russian aerial weapons.
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Ukrainian Analysts Studying Downed Russian Missiles, Drones
Russia on May 30 launched a fresh wave of drone strikes on Kyiv -- the fourth attack in three days -- killing at least one person and wounding several others, but Ukrainian authorities said most of the drones were shot down by the capital's air defenses.
Late on May 30 the governor of Russia's Belgorod region said one person was killed and six were wounded in shelling of a temporary shelter for civilians. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov blamed Ukrainian armed forces for artillery fire that hit the shelter, which he said housed displaced people, including elderly civilians and children.
On the same day, Moscow was subjected to a rare drone attack that damaged several buildings. The Russian Defense Ministry said eight drones were shot down or jammed over the Russian capital in what it said was a "terrorist attack" by the "Kyiv regime."
Russia's Investigative Committee said no one was wounded. Ukrainian denied any involvement, and White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on May 31 that the Biden administration does not know who is responsible for the attack. He added that the United States does not tell Ukraine where to strike.
Moscow-installed authorities in Ukraine's Luhansk region, which is almost completely occupied by Russia, said on May 31 that five people were killed and 19 wounded by Ukrainian shelling that hit a poultry farm in the village of Karpaty.
The information could not be independently confirmed, and there was no immediate reaction from Ukraine.
Both sides say they are targeting the buildup of military equipment and troops ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.