KYIV: As Russia began an assault Saturday on two key cities in eastern Ukraine, the body that monitors ships in and out of Ukraine ports authorized five more vessels to sail. Four are to leave Sunday with nearly 162,000 metric tons of foodstuffs.

Russian forces began Saturday with an assault on the strategic cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian military and local officials.

Bakhmut and Avdiivka are prime targets for Russia; analysts say Moscow must take Bakhmut in order to advance on the key regional hubs of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Five civilians were killed, including in one in Avdiivka, and 14 others were injured in Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram Saturday.

Russia last attacked Sloviansk on July 30, but Ukrainian forces are fortifying their positions around the strategic eastern city ahead of anticipated fresh Russian attacks. Sloviansk is strategic in Moscow’s ambitions to seize the entire Donetsk region, a largely Russian-speaking area in eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces and pro-Moscow groups control about 60% of the province.

(VOA)