Russian missile strikes and shelling killed at least six people over the past 24 hours in Ukraine, regional officials said, as the Ukrainian military reported limited advances in its recently launched counteroffensive to regain territory occupied by Russia since the start of its unprovoked invasion.
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Four people were killed when a Russian anti-tank missile hit a civilian car in the Kharkiv region on June 17, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram. The incident occurred in the village of Huryiv Kozachok, about 1 kilometer from the Russian border, Synyehubov said.
In the southern region of Kherson, two people were killed and 25 others were wounded over the past day by Russian shelling, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on June 17.
Kherson city was hit by 44 Russian shells, Prokudin said, adding that Russian forces targeted residential neighborhoods, buildings housing educational and administrative institutions, and a Kherson commercial center.
Russian forces shelled the city of Nikopol in the southern region of Dnipropetrovsk, hitting private houses, commercial centers, and power lines, the head of the regional council, Mykola Lukashuk, said on Telegram.
In the eastern region of Donetsk, the city of Vuhledar came under Russian artillery fire 20 times over the past day, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on June 17.
In Russia, the governor of Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, said on June 17 that Russian forces had repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on a refinery in the city of Novozybkov, some 50 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.
"Overnight, Russian military air-defense units in Novozybkov repulsed an attack by Ukraine's military on the Druzhba oil refinery. Thanks to the professionalism of our military's air defense, three aircraft-type drones were destroyed," Bogomaz wrote on Telegram, without mentioning any damage.
The information could not be independently verified. Drone attacks on energy facilities inside Russia have been stepped up recently.
SEE ALSO: African Delegation Presses Putin To Seek 'Path To Peace' In Ukraine, Offers MediationThe General Staff of Ukraine's military said that all attempted missile attacks on the Kyiv region had been repelled over the past day. The military said six Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles and six Kalibr cruise missiles were downed by Ukrainian air defenses.
On the battlefield, the General Staff said that fighting continues in Donetsk around the flashpoint towns of Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka, where 36 battles were fought by Ukrainian forces over the past 24 hours.
Late on June 16, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Ukrainian forces were engaged in offensive operations in several areas in southern Ukraine as part of their counteroffensive.
Malyar said that Ukrainian units achieved partial tactical successes in the directions they were advancing, Malyar said on Telegram, without giving details.
"They are gradually moving forward," she said, adding that following Ukrainian advances, Russian forces had beefed up their defenses in the Berdyansk and Mariupol areas and increased their firepower by transferring troops and equipment there from other fronts while also expanding mine fields.
Malyar's statement could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on June 17 demanded more tanks from the country's defense industry for the war against Ukraine.
During a visit to a manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Omsk, Shoigu insisted on "strict adherence to the timetable for the implementation of the state defense order," the ministry announced.
Shoigu's office said that "he set the task of further expanding production capacities for tanks and heavy flame-throwing systems."