Russia unleashes fresh attacks on Ukraine’s eastern region overnight

Russian forces fired on Ukrainian positions and residential areas in the east of the country overnight and unleashed fresh rocket attacks while fortifying positions with new deployments of air defense systems there, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian authorities are still investigating allegations by Ukrainian forces that they were subjected to a Russian chemical weapons attack in Mariupol, where Russia is still struggling to consolidate gains in the city, which Moscow sees as crucial to its efforts to take over eastern Ukraine and after advance west. The Russian government has not publicly commented on the alleged use of chemical weapons in Mariupol.