Kocew News 
An entire family, including a newborn girl and her 12-year-old brother, were among seven people who were killed during intense Russian shelling in a village in southern Kherson on Sunday. The village of Shiroka Balka, located on the banks of the Dnieper River, was hit by Russian shells, resulting in the deaths of a husband, wife, 12-year-old boy, 23-day-old baby girl, and another resident. Additionally, two men in the neighboring village of Stanislav were also killed. Ukraine’s interior minister, Igor Klymenko, stated that the shells hit the family’s home and emphasized the need to stop the terrorists by force.
A photograph shared by Klymenko showed smoke rising from the family’s home after the attack. The region of Kherson was one of four areas in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed last year. However, Ukrainian forces are reportedly making progress against the Russian invaders. Ukrainian military officials stated that their forces had made advances in the south, successfully capturing a key village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and other unspecified territories.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are attempting to breach Russian lines in the western parts of the Donetsk region. The Russian-installed official in parts of Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, reported intense fighting south of Velyka Novosilka as Ukrainian troops aim to gain control of the town of Staromlynivka. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June to retake territory captured by Russia, recapturing several villages in the south and regaining territory near the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east.
In another incident, a Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea. This marks the first time Russia has fired on merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting a UN-brokered grain deal. Russia’s Vasily Bykov patrol ship fired on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship’s captain failed to respond to a request to halt for inspection. Russia stated that the vessel was heading towards the Ukrainian port of Izmail, but shipping data showed it was near the coast of Bulgaria, heading towards the Romanian port of Sulina.
The Ukrainian defense ministry called the incident “another hostile act” by Russia, while Ukraine’s general staff claimed that panic is growing among Russian forces due to a increasing number of desertions. Moscow military officials are reportedly conducting searches for deserters in the Kherson region, and there has been an increase in drinking and drug use among newly conscripted troops, leading some individuals to leave their positions and hide in abandoned buildings.
