Russia carrying out massive strikes on front line: Moscow

Russia said it was carrying out "massive strikes" across the Ukrainian front line and accused Ukrainian soldiers of abusing civilians in territories recaptured in a dramatic counter-offensive.

Moscow's retaliation came after it was forced to pull back its troops from swathes of the north-east, particularly in the Kharkiv region, following Kyiv's lightning assault to wrest back terrain.

The territorial shifts marked one of Russia's biggest setbacks since its troops were repelled from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly seven-month war, yet Moscow signalled it was no closer to agreeing to a negotiated peace.

"Air, rocket and artillery forces are carrying out massive strikes on units of the Ukrainian armed forces in all operational directions," the Russian Defence Ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict on Tuesday.

High-precision strikes have also been launched on Ukrainian positions around Sloviansk and Konstantinovka in the eastern Donetsk region, it added.