Russian strikes on frontline regions killed seven people and wounded several others, Ukrainian officials said on May 31, amid uncertainty over whether negotiators from the two countries will meet for a second round of direct talks on June 2.

Russian forceslaunched guided missilesat a civilian area in a district near the front in the Zaporizhzhya region, destroying at least one home, damaging several other buildings, and killing a 9-year-old girl, regional head Ivan Federovsaid on Telegramon May 31. He said a 16-year-old boy was also wounded in the attack.

Three people were killed by Russian attacks in the Donetsk region city of Pokrovsk, the site of fierce fighting for months, and two others were killed in a village nearby, according to Vadym Filashkin, the top regional official. HisTelegram postabout the attacks included images of piles of rubble and a building in flames.

A 66-year-old man was killed in Russian shelling of the city of Kherson, regional chief Oleksandr Prokudin said. Kherson was liberated in a Ukrainian counteroffensive late in 2022, months after Moscow's full-scale invasion that February, but isattacked frequently by Russian forcesfrom positions across the Dnieper River.

The Ukrainianmilitary saidit had registered nearly 200 battles over the past 24 hours, with Russian forces attacking on several parts of the front in eastern Ukraine.

Further north, the governor of the Sumy region ordered the evacuation of 11 additional towns and villages as Russian forces increase pressure in what Ukrainian authorities say is an attempt to create a "buffer zone" near the border.