Russia strikes 17 homes in central Ukraine

The attack on Vincentia, far from the front line, comes as Moscow doubles its long-range missile and air strikes. Russia also fired nine missiles at the southern city of Mikolaiv on Thursday, damaging a transport facility and a hotel.

The Russian invasion turned into a war of attrition near East Donbas. The Russian military and its envoys are making rapid progress, hiding from heavy artillery fire. The Ukrainian side, using modern long-range weapons provided by its Western allies, tried to disrupt Russian logistics by hitting the back of the line.

But despite Ukraine’s progress on the ground, Ukraine is being hit hard by long-range attacks, which military experts say could continue despite Russia’s push for more territory.

The Mikolaiv attack follows a series of deadly attacks earlier this week in and around the city. No one was killed in Thursday’s attack, local officials said.

Ukraine’s emergency services say 48 people have been killed in an attack on Russia’s Chasev Yard building over the weekend. Ukrainian officials saw only civilians injured in the strike, but Wall Street Journal reporters saw soldiers in military uniforms emerge from the rubble. Ukraine’s emergency services say nine people have been killed.

Five innocent people have been killed and dozens more injured in a Russian-led operation in Mikolaev, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Monday. Russia has fired two missiles at the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporia, the regional military says.

The UK Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Russian artillery shelling in Donbass continued, but Moscow had not changed much in the past three days.

“Unless older vehicles, weapons, and Soviet-era tactics used by the Russian forces are used in a way that is beyond their means, they will not be able to recover or rebuild power,” the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army announced on Thursday that it had recaptured the village of Seversk in eastern Ukraine after a heavy Russian artillery bombing.

Russian forces have already taken control of most of Donetsk, and Ukraine expects Moscow to continue its offensive against Sevresk, which has already been destroyed by artillery fire and most of its remaining residents are now being housed in a nearby hospital.

According to Kyiv, new Western weapons are helping to dismantle Russian logistics centers and command centers away from the front lines. Ukraine’s central military command said on Thursday that it had seen signs of a shortage of Russian troops.

Russian state media reported on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had attacked an air defense system in Luhansk, one of the two Russian-occupied states in Donbass.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that prolonged war in Ukraine is darkening the world’s economic prospects this year and next.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it is expected to reduce global economic growth forecast for 2022 and 2023 by the end of this month.

“The effects of the Ukraine war have been devastating. IMF Managing Director crystalina Georgieva has an economic impact on her statement ahead of this week’s Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

As the economic war between Moscow and the West escalates, Russia’s disruption of Russia’s natural gas supply to Europe could lead to a collapse of many economies and a global energy crisis, Ms. Georgieva said.

He added: 2022 will be tough and maybe 2023 will be even more difficult, ”she added.

Talks on resuming Ukraine’s wheat exports, which were disrupted by the war, provided rare silver after the Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian officials agreed on a wide-ranging agreement to continue exports via the Black Sea late last Wednesday.

The agreement includes plans to set up a coordination center to control the grain corridor in Istanbul, and hopes to secure ships entering and leaving the area, the Turkish defense minister said.

In his evening speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the progress in talks to continue Ukraine’s grain exports.

“Indeed, we are working hard to bring the food supply back to the world market,” Mr Zelinsky said, adding that details of the deal were expected to be agreed with the UN Secretary-General in the coming days.

The technical agreement, the UN-led and Turkish-led diplomatic mission in recent weeks, is the first major achievement of the resumption of production of up to 20 million tons of wheat and other foodstuffs from Ukraine.

The agreement still needs to be ratified by Russian President Vladimir Putin. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the first agreement was a “light of hope” for poor countries affected by global food inflation.

—Jared Malsin and Vivian Salama contributed to this article.

Write Alan Coolison at alan.cullison@wsj.com and Bertrand Benoit at bertrand.benoit@wsj.com