KYIV, Ukraine — Following a relative lull, Russia launched a drone strike against Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, early Sunday, officials said. It was the first such attack of the war in 12 days.
According to Serhii Popko, the head of the Kiev city government, all Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones were detected and shot down. In addition to the city itself, the surrounding Kiev region was also targeted. Kyiv regional governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported that one person was injured by falling debris from a destroyed drone.
Officials in the Ukrainian capital did not give an exact number of drones attacking the city. But the Ukrainian Air Force said eight Shaheds and three Kalibr cruise missiles were launched by the Russians across the country.
Further south, a 13-year-old boy was injured in nighttime shelling of Ukraine’s partially occupied southern province of Kherson, said Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, spokesman for the province’s Ukrainian administration.
The child was injured when the Russian army shelled the village of Mylove on the banks of the Dnieper River in the Beryslav district, Tolokonnikov said.
“The child has been hospitalized, there is no threat to his life,” added Tolokonnikov, “he said on state television.
The shelling of Kherson province continued on Sunday morning, injuring four people in the regional capital, also called Kherson. The regional prosecutor’s office said a residential area of the city was targeted by Russian forces operating in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson province. “
“At least four civilians were injured, two of them from a targeted attack on a high-rise building,” the agency wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army reported that the most intense fighting continued in the industrial east of Ukraine, with attacks around Bakhmut, Marinka and Lyman in Donetsk province, where 46 battles took place.
Ukrainian forces advanced in a “massive offensive” on the southern and northern flanks of the devastated city of Bakhmut, Eastern Armed Forces of Ukraine spokesman Serhii Cherevaty told Ukrainian state television. But he didn’t mention how much progress they made. The details, he said, would be released once Ukrainian forces have analyzed the situation and consolidated their positions.
In its regular update on Sunday morning, the General Staff said Russia had carried out 27 airstrikes, one rocket attack and about 80 attacks from multiple rocket launchers in the past 24 hours, targeting regions in the north, northeast, east and south of the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Black Sea port city of Odessa on Sunday — the day the country honors its navy — to hear a report from the naval commander, to review prospects for developing a naval drone and missile program. discuss and issue awards to service members.
In Russia, local officials reported that air defense systems shot down a drone over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, while the neighboring Kursk region faced shelling. No casualties or damage were reported.
After the drama of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s uprising last week, Russian authorities remained defiant. Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has come out of this situation “after further strengthening his position both in the country and in the world”.
Russian society, he said, “having passed this test, it has shown its maturity.” According to Volodin, “there was not a single instance of anyone supporting the uprising”.
But General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, was said to have been detained days after the mutiny. It is not clear whether Surovikin, who has long-standing ties to Prigozhin, will face charges or where he is being held, reflecting the opaque world of Kremlin politics and post-uprising uncertainty.
Volodin wrote on Telegram that the Russian president “did everything possible to avoid bloodshed and confusion”, including explaining to Wagner fighters “the real state of affairs”. “(Putin) suggested that those who want to defend Russia continue their service with weapons in their hands. As far as I know, many of them have agreed to this,” Volodin said.
In addition, the chairman of the State Duma said he had analyzed the “challenges” faced by Russia in the past and confirmed that if “someone like Putin” had led the country in 1917 and 1991, there would have been no revolution. in Russia, and the USSR would not have collapsed.
But independent observers and analysts say Putin could emerge politically weakened after first announcing that Wagner would face harsh repercussions, only to later say that the group’s forces would not be prosecuted. Prigozhin was also allowed to leave Russia for Belarus.
Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Sunday that Poland will send 500 police officers to join 5,000 border guards and 2,000 soldiers on the border with Belarus. It follows an announcement earlier this week that Poland would strengthen defenses on its eastern border following the relocation of Wagner fighters to Belarus.
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