KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The central Ukrainian city of Kyiv suffered a tragic night when Russian missiles rained down on a warehouse and an apartment building, killing at least 11 people, according to the region. And more than two dozen were injured.
The attack, which took place in the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, came more than 15 months after the initial offensive by Ukrainian forces, the first phase of a bid to recapture about a fifth of Ukraine, which is now held by Russian forces.
Over the past few weeks, Russian forces have repeatedly launched overnight missile strikes into Ukraine, with Tuesday’s attack resulting in the deadliest single strike. In late April, missile strikes hit an apartment building in the central city of Amman, killing 23 people, including six children.
Photos shared by President Zelensky on his Telegram channel showed firefighters battling the blaze as flames engulfed the damaged apartment building. Burnt and wrecked vehicles littered the surroundings.
President Zelensky expressed his outrage on social media, condemning the continued attacks of “terrorist missiles” targeting residential areas and innocent civilians by Russian forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the long-range cruise missiles were used to attack Ukrainian military reserves and Western arms and ammunition depots.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, reported on Telegram that seven bodies were recovered from a warehouse of a private company, while “another four lives were suddenly cut short” in an apartment building. He announced that the search operation has been completed.
Meanwhile, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, suffered Iranian-made Shahid drone attacks, as well as shelling of the surrounding area, local governor Oleh Senyhobov said on Telegram. Shelling injured two civilians in the town of Shevchenkovo, southeast of Kharkiv, while drone strikes damaged two buildings in Kharkiv.
According to the military administration of Kiev, the capital also faced missile fire on Tuesday. However, the incoming missiles were successfully intercepted and destroyed by air defenses, resulting in no immediate reports of casualties.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that overnight, air defenses managed to shoot down 10 of 14 cruise missiles and downed one of four Iranian-made Shahid drones launched by Russian forces, as That is stated on their Facebook page.
Additionally, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister, Hina Miliar, confirmed that Ukrainian forces are continuing their operations in four regions in the south and east.
Oleksandr Serskyi, the head of Ukraine’s ground forces, said in a telegram that his forces were advancing outside Bakhmut in the east, and that Russian forces were losing ground on the flanks.
For weeks, Ukrainian officials have reported increasing gains west of Bakhmut, a city that saw widespread destruction during the longest and bloodiest fighting of the war before it fell under Moscow’s control last month.
However, these gains have resulted in only small territorial changes, highlighting the uphill battle Ukrainian forces face to reclaim about a fifth of their country currently held by Russian forces.
Yesterday, about a dozen towns and villages on the front line in the Ukrainian-held areas of Donetsk came under heavy shelling as Ukrainian troops advanced, according to a statement from President Zelensky’s office.
Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Moscow-appointed administration that oversees Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia, alleged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed. He told the state-run RIA-Novosti news agency that Ukrainian forces were “suffering heavy losses as they make new attempts to advance”, though he did not provide further details, and the urgency of his claims. But could not be confirmed.
Additionally, the Russian Defense Ministry released a video on Tuesday, which it claims captured German-made Leopard 2 tanks and American-made Bradley fighting vehicles.
