Russian forces struck a cafe in a key front-line area in northeastern Ukraine Saturday, killing two civilians and wounding a third, regional officials said.
The shelling near the city of Kupiansk came as U.K. officials said that Russia may try to retake the area, which was captured by Kyiv in a lightning counteroffensive last September after more than six months of Russian occupation.
Fierce fighting there earlier this month prompted mandatory evacuations and fears of a second Russian takeover.
Russian shells on Saturday morning struck the cafe in Podoly, an eastern suburb of Kupiansk, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a Telegram post. He added that rescue teams were working at the site.
UK military intelligence on Saturday assessed that Russia may increase the intensity of its offensive efforts around Kupiansk and nearby Lyman in an attempt to take pressure off its forces near Bakhmut and in the Zaporizhzhia region, where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has reportedly made gradual gains.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages around Kupiansk, citing a concerted effort by Russian troops to punch through the front line.
After the Russian occupiers left Kupiansk last year, Ukrainian authorities said they found torture chambers and mass graves in the region.
Kyiv has since early this year sought to take the 18-month-war into the heart of Russia, also saying recently that it was behind strikes on Russian military assets far behind the front lines.
Russia and Ukraine traded multiple drone attacks earlier this week, with Kyiv apparently targeting Moscow and the Kremlin’s forces launching another bombardment of Ukrainian grain storage depots in what have recently become signature tactics.
