Moscow announced Tuesday it had for the first time downed a long-range rocket supplied to Ukraine by the United States, weapons Kyiv said were key to an anticipated counter-attack against Russian forces. The longest and bloodiest battle of the war so far is unfolding in Bakhmut, a largely emptied and destroyed salt mining townOleksandr Syrskyi said Tuesday that Russian forces were still working to encircle the city. Sergei Shoigu meanwhile visited ammunition production facilities in central Russia, the ministry said, and praised work to increase production of shells for the armed forces in Ukraine