Buildings damaged, destroyed and 8 people hurt in Kherson amid heavy shelling: official

Russian forces heavily shelled the centre of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday, injuring eight people and damaging or destroying at least 15 buildings, a senior city official said.

Pictures posted on social media showed at least three sites dotted with piles of rubble and the interior of one building strewn with shattered building materials and other debris.

Roman Mrochko, head of the city's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app that three of the injured were being treated in hospital. He said two buildings had been destroyed, three suffered heavy damage and 10 less damage.

"In the evening the entire city trembled," Ukraine's Emergency Services said on the Telegram messaging service. "The enemy targeted the very centre of Kherson."

The posting said emergency workers had rescued two women in their 70s and 80s who had been blocked in a building, and they brought a fire under control in a rubble-strewn area.

Ukraine's Suspilne public broadcaster said Russian forces had also shelled Beryslav, a town farther north on the Dnipro River in Kherson Region, wounding one person.

Russian forces captured Kherson in the early days of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but they abandoned the city and the western bank of the Dnipro River late last year. They now regularly shell those areas from positions on the eastern bank.

Military service and family stress

After Russia launched its invasion, Ukraine ordered a general mobilization of the male population between the ages of 25 and 60. The vast majority joined up as volunteers.

But as the war grinds on, Ukraine has ramped up the draft.

Scores of protesters gathered on the streets of Ukrainian cities on Friday to demand a cap of 18 months on mandatory military service — a limit that would be the same maximum as before the war. It is currently open-ended for draftees.

The protesters, who are part of a loose national network, want Ukraine's parliament to consider possible alternatives on service time.

About 100 wives, mothers, children and relatives of Ukrainian soldiers attended a demonstration in the capital, Kyiv.

They chanted "Demobilize the soldiers" and carried banners calling for the return of their loved ones.

"Why is Dad not Coming Back?" asked one placard carried by a child.

"I live in constant fear for his life," Valeriia Koliada, 35, said of her husband, who volunteered for the military. "It's nerve-racking for me. He is tired as well," she said. "We are a young family. I also want to have a child and sleep calm at night."

Protesters also gathered in at least six other cities.

'Painful losses' for Russia: Zelenskyy

Also Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on a Russian effort to advance on the eastern town of Avdiivka, which he said had both failed and resulted in "painful losses" for Moscow.

Russia renewed a push to encircle the embattled town in mid-October, trying to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with constant barrages of artillery and waves of troops and fighting vehicles, according to local and military authorities in Ukraine.

"The invaders made several attempts to surround Avdiivka, but each time our soldiers stopped them and threw them back, causing painful losses. In these cases, the enemy lost at least a brigade," Zelenskyy told British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a phone call, the president's office said in a statement.

Reuters could not independently verify the assertion, and there was no immediate comment from Russia.

Brigades vary in size and can number between 1,500 and 8,000 troops. Battlefield losses are a state secret in Russia and Ukraine, though they are believed to run into the many tens of thousands on both sides over the course of the war.

Russian military bloggers have reported territorial gains by Moscow's troops in the area, while Ukraine has described the situation as extremely difficult and said Moscow was throwing a huge number of forces into the assault.

Russia's offensive at Avdiivka has become the battlefield focus nearly five months after Kyiv launched a counteroffensive in the occupied south and east. Kyiv has made slower progress than it wanted to due to vast Russian trenches and minefields, but it continues to report small gains in the strategic south.

The Institute for the Study of War, an American non-profit research group, said on Thursday that Russia had taken heavy losses in equipment near Avdiivka that would "likely undermine Russian offensive capabilities over the long term."

In a battlefield update on Friday, the Ukrainian General Staff said the military "steadfastly holds the defence and causes significant losses" to Russian troops, adding they were not giving up in their attempts to encircle the town.

Avdiivka, about 25 kilometres from Russian-occupied Donetsk, is surrounded by Russian-held territory to the north, east and south, leaving only its west for Kyiv's troops to resupply and evacuate people.

The town, which is home to a vast coking plant, has been under attack since 2014, when conflict first broke out between Ukraine and Russian-backed forces. Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka's military administration, said the renewed attacks to capture the town were the largest since 2014.

The Avdiivika fight and other battles are draining both sides' resources. Moscow has stepped up its military production and has reportedly turned to North Korea and Iran to replenish its stockpiles, observers say, while Kyiv is urging its Western allies to keep providing vital support.