Russian shelling killed 11 people in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, governor Valentin Reznychenko said on Wednesday, as Britain said Russia had "almost certainly" established a major new ground force to support its war.
The new Russian force, called the 3rd Army Corps, is based in the city of Mulino, east of Russia's capital, Moscow, the British Defiance Ministry said in a daily intelligence bulletin.
The ministry also said Russian commanders were facing "competing operational priorities" of reinforcing their offensive in the Donbas region in the east, as well as strengthening refences against Ukrainian counterattacks in the south.
After failing to capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early in the war, Russian forces have focused on the east and south, where pro-Moscow separatists have controlled territory since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
A senior Ukrainian official suggested a series of explosions at a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday could have been the work of partisan saboteurs, as Ukraine denied responsibility for the incident deep in Russian-occupied territory.
Huge plumes of smoke could be seen in videos posted on social media from Crimea, a holiday destination for many Russians. Russia used Crimea as one of the launch pads for its Feb. 24 invasion.
Russia said the explosions, at least 12 according to witnesses, were detonations of stored ammunition, not the result of an attack.
Zelenskiy did not directly mention the blasts in his daily video address on Tuesday but said it was right that people were focusing on Crimea.
"We will never give it up , the Black Sea region cannot be safe while Crimea is occupied," he said, repeating his government's position that Crimea would have to be returned to Ukraine.
Ukraine's general staff reported widespread Russian shelling across several regions on Wednesday.
The head of Ukraine's state nuclear power firm has warned of the "very high" risk of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-occupied south and said it was vital Kyiv regained control of the facility in time for winter.
Shelling last week by Russian forces had damaged three lines that connect the plant to the Ukrainian grid, he said. Russia wanted to connect the facility to its grid,