Russia-Ukraine crisis live updates | Russia steps up attacks across Ukraine’s north, east, south

Here are the latest developments from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict on July 17

Russian forces fired missiles and shells at cities and towns across Ukraine on July 17 after Russia’s military announced it was stepping up its onslaught against its neighbour. Ukraine reported at least 17 more civilians killed. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu gave “instructions to further intensify the actions of units in all operational areas, in order to exclude the possibility of the Kyiv regime launching massive rocket and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure and residents of settlements in the Donbas and other regions,” his ministry said Saturday.

Explained | The impact of the Ukraine-Russia crisis on global agricultural markets

Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accused Russia of using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and shell the surrounding regions of Nikopol and Dnipro that were hit on July 16. More than 20 weeks since Russia invaded its neighbour, leading to thousands of deaths and millions of displaced Ukrainians, the war-ravaged nation’s President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Moscow for seeking to cause maximum damage, but pledged that Ukraine will “endure” in the conflict.

Also read | The Ukraine war and the return to Euro-centrism

Ukrainian authorities across the country reported new Russian missile strikes and shelling on July 16 that killed at least 16 more civilians, deaths that came after Russia’s top military announced it was stepping up its onslaught against its neighbour.

Here are the latest updates:

The war in Ukraine “concerns the West as a whole” but at the same time must not lead to “forgetting Africa’s security” needs, France’s armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu said Saturday.