Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Russia carried out more than 12 hours of overnight strikes on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine into Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than a dozen, including three children, as millions of pupils returned to school for the fifth academic year since the invasion. Ukrainian authorities said the attacks on the capital were meant to frighten civilians, while the Russian Defence Ministry said it had targeted weapons production, storage sites and military-related infrastructure.
advertisement
The assault was the sixth straight day of heavy Russian attacks on Kyiv, an unprecedented run since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion more than 4.5 years ago. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia was stepping up its air campaign as its forces struggled to make progress on the front line.
Kallas told a meeting of EU defence ministers in Ireland, “Russia’s war is becoming more ruthless and destructive, but it’s unfortunately not closer to ending.” She added, “Russia’s army is bogged down on the ground, and that is why they are killing civilians from the skies.”
Ukrainian authorities said the latest attack hit civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of Kyiv. Eight people were killed in the city and four more in the surrounding region. Six employees of the state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia were among those killed in Kyiv after a ballistic missile struck a depot and other property, company chairman Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said in a social media post. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the dead included an Indian citizen. He also said nearly 350 emergency workers were deployed in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out a “massive strike” on Ukraine with “precision-guided weapons” and long-range drones. Ukraine’s air force said the attack began at 6 pm on Monday and involved ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles, along with 218 drones and decoys. About a third of the drones were jet-powered, making them harder to intercept than propeller-driven versions. The air force said the main targets were in the Kyiv and southern Odesa regions.
In the Odesa region on the Black Sea, the attack damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded one person, regional head Oleh Kiper said. Two residential buildings were damaged and a fire broke out at a textile factory. Russian forces also struck the Orlivka international ferry crossing on the border with Romania, he said. Russia also shelled the northern Zhytomyr region, sparking fires at an industrial facility and a warehouse, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said. In Kyiv, first responders worked to clear rubble from damaged apartment buildings and free trapped residents.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted 516 Ukrainian drones overnight over 18 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea. In the Leningrad region, the drone attack sparked a fire at the port of Ust-Luga, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said, as Ukraine extended its campaign against Russia’s oil sector, a mainstay of the economy. Ust-Luga, one of Russia’s biggest oil and gas export terminals, is more than 800 kilometres from Ukraine and has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks this year.
Separately, the war in Ukraine was discussed on Monday at a summit in Kyrgyzstan involving the leaders of China, Russia and India. In Germany, the government blamed Russia for an attempted attack last month at Leipzig/Halle Airport using a drone loaded with explosives. German leaders said they would shut down a Russian consulate, among other measures against Moscow. The drone was found near a Ukrainian plane on August 4 and was defused. Western officials have widely accused Moscow of carrying out sabotage and disruption across Europe to undermine support for Ukraine and destabilise European countries.
The latest wave of attacks killed civilians in and around Kyiv, damaged homes and infrastructure in several regions, and came as both Russia and Ukraine reported major overnight drone activity beyond the battlefield.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
