Moscow has changed its tactics in its war against Ukraine, now in its 15th month, and has begun deliberately launching missile strikes on residential areas, the government in Kyiv said, as cited by DPA and Agerpres on Tuesday.

“There is no doubt that they strike directly at civilian residential buildings or areas with several houses where the civilian population lives,” – said on Tuesday morning on Ukrainian television, the adviser to the head of the presidential administration, Kev Mykhailo Podolyak.

One of the goals of the change in tactics is to try to speed up the counteroffensive, so that the Ukrainian forces do not prepare for it, but rather begin the offensive, believes Podolyak, who is quoted by the Ukrainian portal RBC.

In the cold winter months, Russia aimed primarily at the energy infrastructure of Ukraine. Kyiv has been planning its spring counteroffensive for months to retake Russian-occupied territories, but is not revealing any details.

Also, Podoliak believes, Moscow is trying to influence the residents of Western countries, who, under the impression of the murders of the civilian Ukrainian population, may start demanding urgent negotiations. In his televised speech, Podolyak also stated that the latest Russian missile strikes were aimed at testing whether Ukraine is capable of defending its airspace.

A series of Russian rocket attacks in recent days have killed several civilians, including in the central city of Uman, where at least 20 people were killed after a rocket hit a residential building on Friday.

A young woman and her three-year-old daughter were also killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region as a result of a Russian attack.

Kyiv denies that military targets were hit during this attack, as Moscow claims.

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