A wave of Russian and Ukrainian strikes tore through civilian areas on both sides of the border yesterday, killing at least 14 people in towns and cities, many of them along the front line of a war now more than four years old, local officials said.
In southeastern Ukraine, a Russian guided bomb hit the city of Zaporizhzhia, leaving three people dead and 15 wounded, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.
Reuters TV footage captured firefighters battling the resulting blazes as emergency crews searched through the wreckage of shattered buildings. Zaporizhzhia has faced increasingly intense attacks in recent weeks.
Two more people were killed when Russian missiles struck the Black Sea port of Odesa, a city repeatedly targeted by Moscow.
The strikes damaged residential buildings, a religious institution, a pre-school facility, vehicles and other civilian infrastructure, officials said.
Near the Russian border, a drone attack outside the city of Kharkiv killed one person, according to Ukraine’s national emergency services.
Earlier in the day, three people died in a separate drone strike near Kupiansk, farther east.
In the Donetsk region, where much of the heaviest fighting is concentrated along the 1,200 km front line, the regional governor said one person was killed and five others were injured near Kramatorsk. The city is among Ukraine’s so-called ‘fortress towns’, where defences have been reinforced.
Russian attacks on Kyiv shortly after midnight Thursday also killed two people and wounded at least five, including a child, Ukrainian emergency services said.
Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at a warehouse in Kyiv after a Russian air attack
Across the border, officials in Russia’s Belgorod Region said Ukrainian shelling killed one person in a settlement near the frontier.
Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-installed leader of Russian-controlled areas in the Donetsk region, said another person had died in territory held by Russian forces.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the accounts provided by either side.
The UN has said June was the deadliest month for civilians in Ukraine since April 2022.
Zelensky says Ukraine destroyed Tu-95 bomber
President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that he had offered former interior minister Ihor Klymenko the position of chair of Ukraine’s defence and security council.
Writing on Telegram, Mr Zelensky said coordinating defence production would become a distinct priority for Mr Klymenko in the role.
It is not yet clear whether Rustem Umerov, the council’s current chairman and Ukraine’s chief negotiator, will be offered another position.
Mr Zelensky also said Ukrainian forces had destroyed a strategic Tu-95 bomber at Russia’s Engels airbase, around 800 km (497 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
In a post on X, he said Russian forces had used the military aircraft to launch missile strikes against Ukraine. “We are defending ourselves justly and proactively,” he said.
Ukrainians protest in Dublin against plans to move them out of Citywest
Protesters at the Spire in Dublin today
Around 30 Ukrainians living at Citywest gathered at the Spire in Dublin City Centre to protest against plans to relocate them from their current accommodation.
Residents have been told they must submit an application to the Department of Justice by today if they want the state to accommodate them elsewhere.
Those taking part in the protest, however, say the alternative accommodation offered to them does not meet their needs.
Nataliia Prokopovych told RTÉ News: “We want government to stop relocations and assess the needs of the vulnerable people.
“A lot of them are connected to HSE services. A lot of them have ongoing treatment. They have their medical team, and they their life and health depends on those connections. They cannot be moved out of this system of life support, because for many of them that will mean like death.”
The residents say the proposed centres have shared toilets and bathrooms, arrangements they believe are unsuitable for people with compromised immune systems or visual impairments.
Yurii Oleksiu, who is blind, said he would have no way of checking whether a communal toilet was clean. He said the proposed accommodation presented other difficulties as well.
“Some of the places are without windows and, for example, I have problem with my cells, and I need to have some like natural light because it simulate my my retina.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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