Shelling kills civilians in Ukraine’s northeast as fears grow of a second Russian takeover

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces struck a cafe in a key front-line area in northeastern Ukraine Saturday, killing two civilians and wounding a third, regional officials said.

The shelling near the city of Kupiansk came as U.K. officials said that Russia may try to retake the area, which was captured by Kyiv in a lightning counteroffensive last September after more than six months of Russian occupation.

Fierce fighting there earlier this month prompted mandatory evacuations and fears of a second Russian takeover.

Russian shells on Saturday morning struck the cafe in Podoly, an eastern suburb of Kupiansk, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a Telegram post. He added that rescue teams were working at the site.

U.K. military intelligence on Saturday assessed that Russia may “increase the intensity of its offensive efforts” around Kupiansk and nearby Lyman in an attempt to take pressure off its forces near Bakhmut and in the Zaporizhzhia region, where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has reportedly made gradual gains.

Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian defense ministry, said in a regular briefing Saturday that Moscow’s forces had “improved their position along the front line” in the Kupiansk area and repelled five Ukrainian assaults over the previous day.

He did not give further details regarding any troop movements.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages around Kupiansk, citing a concerted effort by Russian troops to punch through the front line.

After the Russian occupiers left Kupiansk last year, Ukrainian authorities said they found torture chambers and mass graves in the region.

Ukrainian officials have so far reported limited advances in Kyiv’s large-scale counteroffensive launched in early June, including in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and on the outskirts of Bakhmut, the eastern city that became the site of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle before falling to Moscow in May.

A Washington-based think tank said late Friday that Ukrainian forces were pushing forward in Zaporizhzhia after advancing into the village of Robotyne earlier this week.