A man and his four-year-old son were killed overnight by a Russian missile fired near Kiev, the emergency service said. Several explosions were recorded in the central and eastern areas of the Ukrainian capital on Saturday night. According to military officials, the explosions were caused by two Russian missiles fired at the city.
Zelensky: “They used a North Korean missile”
Russian forces used a North Korean missile in last night’s attack on the Kiev region that killed a man and his four-year-old son, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “According to preliminary information, the Russians used a North Korean missile and it was another deliberate terrorist attack on Ukraine,” the message read. “Experts continue to work to establish the exact details of the missile.”
Three people were injured in the attack in the Kiev region, the head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said, as reported by RBC-Ukraine. “During the night the enemy attacked our area with missiles and drones. The alarm lasted almost 8 hours. Air defense forces worked in the region. Air targets were shot down. Unfortunately, two people died… and three more were injured,” Kravchenko said.
The emergency service had earlier announced the deaths of a man and his four-year-old son. Kravchenko added that the man who was killed was 35 years old and that the three injured were a 45-year-old man, a 53-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy.
AFP journalists reported explosions in central and eastern Kiev yesterday evening, while the Ukrainian Air Force said two Russian missiles were headed toward the Ukrainian capital. On Telegram, the Kiev military administration said that air defense had been activated, while the Ukrainian Air Force added that five other regions of the country had been targeted with drone strikes.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down all drones launched by Russian forces over Kiev last night, the Ukrainian capital’s military administration announced on Telegram, as reported by Rbc-Ukraine. “About a dozen drones” were aimed at Kiev, the message reads. “All enemy attack drones were shot down in the airspace of the Ukrainian capital by air defense forces and means,” the note continues. In the city, the administration added, no damage, injuries or casualties were recorded.
Four people were injured, one of them seriously, in a Russian attack on the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region this morning, the head of the regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin, said on Telegram. The attack targeted infrastructure, Filashkin added, without providing further details. Kramatorsk was also shelled by Russian forces yesterday morning.
Air, helicopter and tank strikes against Ukrainian offensive in Kursk
A Russian Su-25 fighter jet struck Ukrainian positions in the border area of the Kursk region last night, the Moscow Defense Ministry reported, as reported by Tass.
“The crew of the Su-25 fighter launched an attack with unguided air-to-air missiles against a concentration of personnel, armored vehicles and military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of the Kursk region,” the statement read. The Russian fighter was attacked by Ukrainian anti-aircraft guns “but the crew performed an anti-missile maneuver, released decoy rockets and turned back,” the statement continued. “According to intelligence reports, all the indicated targets were destroyed.”
Yesterday, in response to the offensive launched by Kiev inside Russian territory, Russian armed forces struck the Ukrainian ones in the border area of the Kursk region, also using a thermobaric bomb.
The Russian military attacked Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region with Ka-52 helicopters and T-72 tanks, the Russian Defense Ministry said, as reported by Tass.
“Army aviation crews on Ka-52 helicopters carried out air strikes against a concentration of personnel, military equipment and military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the border area of the Kursk region,” the statement read. “According to intelligence reports, all targets were successfully destroyed.”
The helicopters, the ministry added, used S-8 unguided missiles in the attack. The ground offensive was carried out with T-72B3M tanks. In the attack, the ministry concluded, “mobile groups of armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of the Kursk region were destroyed.”
Russian air defense shot down 35 Ukrainian drones and four missiles in five regions of the country last night, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced on Telegram. The ministry said that 14 drones and four Tochka-U tactical missiles were destroyed in the Kursk region, 16 drones were shot down in the Voronezh region, 3 drones were intercepted in the Belgorod region, and one each in the Bryansk and Oryol regions.
“Thousands of Ukrainian troops in Kursk offensive”
“Thousands” of Ukrainian troops are taking part in an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, aiming to “weaken” Russian forces and “destabilize” the country, a senior Ukrainian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.
“We are on the offensive. The goal is to weaken the enemy’s positions, inflict maximum losses and destabilize the situation in Russia, which is unable to protect its border,” the official said, stressing that the incursion into Russia “has significantly raised our morale.”
The official noted that the incursion of Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk region has not weakened Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine, although the intensity of attacks has decreased slightly. “The situation is essentially unchanged. Their pressure in the east continues, they are not withdrawing troops from the area,” but “the intensity of Russian attacks has decreased a little,” he said.
The same source stressed that Ukraine is “strictly adhering to international humanitarian law” during its incursion into Russian territory that began this week. “It is very important that Ukraine does not violate any conventions, we strictly adhere to humanitarian law: we do not execute prisoners, we do not rape women, we do not loot,” the official said.
“Butcha, Irpin, all this is not happening and will not happen,” he added, referring to the violence that Russian troops allegedly committed in these Ukrainian cities in early 2022.
Moscow: Kiev missile shot down on Kursk apartment building, 13 injured
At least 13 people were injured last night, two of them seriously, when debris from a Ukrainian missile shot down by Russian forces fell on an apartment building in the Kursk region, the region’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said, as reported by Interfax.
“There are currently 13 injured, two of whom are in serious condition,” Smirnov wrote on Telegram today. For his part, Kursk Mayor Igor Kutsak said on Telegram that all the injured were hospitalized. A fire broke out in the affected apartment building, and residents were evacuated to a temporary shelter.