Ukraine’s government says at least four people have been killed and several others wounded by Russian rocket fire in Kharkiv and Kramatorsk. Elsewhere, Russian warplanes bombed Snake Island early Thursday, just after Ukrainian troops landed on the Black Sea territory and hoisted blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags to celebrate Russia’s withdrawal from the island. In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has yet to start in earnest — more than 130 days after he ordered Russia’s military to invade.

President Vladimir Putin: “We are hearing that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can I say? Let them try. We have often heard that the West wants to fight us until the last Ukrainian. It’s a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it looks like it’s heading in that direction. But everybody should know that, largely speaking, we haven’t even yet started anything in earnest.”