The long-range raids herald the next phase of the war, with Ukraine aiming to liberate its southern regions from Russian control and Moscow trying to seize more of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine claimed success in its efforts in the south late Monday, saying eight foreign ships were able to access ports after Ukrainian forces drove the Russian military off the strategic Black Sea island of Snakes. Ukraine, a major wheat exporter, has struggled to export its grain since Russia seized its main ports, causing food shortages around the world.

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Catch up on the headlines, understand the news and make better decisions, delivered to your inbox for free every day. The strike on the warehouses happened in Nova Kakhovka, a town on the southern bank of the Dnipro River that Russia seized in the early days of the war, Ukraine’s military said. Ukraine has used long-range missile launchers donated by the US to target dozens of Russian ammunition depots and command posts in recent weeks. Kyiv did not identify the weapon used in the attack late Monday. Russian officials said Ukrainian forces used US-made multiple launch missile systems known as Himars. A video shared on social media by Ukrainian officials shows a massive explosion. Ukraine’s armed forces said the strike destroyed ammunition, artillery and armored vehicles. Officials appointed by Russia said civilian infrastructure, including a market, homes and a fertilizer storage facility, were hit, killing seven people and injuring 80.

Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where Russian shelling continued on Monday.

          Photo: anatolii stepanov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Rescuers look through the window of a damaged house in Kharkiv on Monday after the Russian attack on a residential neighborhood there.

          Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press

In the south, Ukrainian special forces and rebels have launched attacks on infrastructure and partners behind Russian lines. On Monday, Yevgeny Yunakov, head of the administration in Russian-held Velykyi Bobryk, was killed in an explosion, Ukrainian and Russian officials said. The incident was the latest in a series of similar killings in the Russian-occupied territories. Ukrainian forces struck targets in the Russian-controlled city of Energodar with drones, according to Ukrainian and Russian officials. Ukrainian officials said the unmanned aerial vehicles struck a military compound. Local pro-Russian officials said the target was a residential building. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties as the conflict has turned into a war of attrition, defined by relentless volleys of heavy artillery and rockets. As the West moves long-range weapons into Ukraine, the Russian military has stepped up missile attacks on positions far from the front lines. Although strikes have continued across the country, most of Moscow’s firepower has been trained in the Donetsk region in the days since it claimed control of the entire Luhansk region. Russia and Moscow-controlled separatist forces already hold part of Donetsk. Seizing the rest of the region would give Moscow full control of the Donbass region, which the Kremlin has made a priority since it withdrew its forces from central Ukraine in late March.

Local residents on Monday in Khorenka, a village on the outskirts of Kiev, lined up for food outside a building damaged in an earlier Russian attack.

          Photo: roman pilipey/Shutterstock

Damaged houses in Khorenka, an area north of Kiev that became a battleground in Russia’s failed bid to seize the capital.

          Photo: roman pilipey/Shutterstock

In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Kharkiv, Bokhodokhiv and Izium districts came under heavy shelling early Tuesday, according to governor Oleh Synyehubov. Ukrainian forces said they had successfully prevented Russian forces from advancing on the towns of Dementiivka and Izyum, Mr Synyehubov said. Military officials from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey along with a United Nations delegation are to hold talks in Istanbul on Wednesday on a plan to export Ukrainian grain to the international market, the Turkish defense minister said. Turkey and the UN are working to broker a deal to export more than 20 million metric tons of grain trapped in Ukraine. At stake in the talks is how to export grain through the Black Sea, where both Russian and Ukrainian forces have laid sea mines. The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that negotiations with Russia and Ukraine “developed in a positive way”. European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to provide Ukraine with a 1 billion euro loan, equivalent to $1 billion, the first tranche of a 9 billion euro loan signed by the bloc’s leaders last month. The funds are available to Ukraine to cover urgent bills for essential services in the coming months and are intended to match short-term US funding for the country. The EU will also cover interest payments on the first installment of the loan, which Ukraine will have years to repay. It comes on top of a €1.2 billion loan to Ukraine that the EU provided after the war began. Ukraine’s government has ushered in a new era of public relations since the start of the war, using tactics such as filming dogs on the battlefield and working with celebrities to help secure funds and weapons to confront Russia. The WSJ explains. Photo Composite: Emily Siu —Laurence Norman in Brussels and Jared Malsin in Istanbul contributed to this article. Write to Vivian Salama at [email protected] and Bojan Pancevski at [email protected] Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8