A man was pulled alive from the rubble of a construction site after Russian shells hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Toretsk this morning.
The man, who rescued through a rescue organization, was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital.
Two other people were killed and eight wounded in the Russian attack on the city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to its governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
More than 207,000 Russian troops have been “eliminated” since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine: 430 killed in the past day, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
In its daily update on Russian losses, the ministry said it also destroyed 3,801 tanks, 575 rocket launch systems and 331 air defense systems.
The number of drones Ukraine claims to have destroyed rose from 61 to a total of 3,054.
Sky News independently determines those figures and Russia does not publish updates on its fighting losses.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “decisions have been made” on when Ukrainian troops will advance, in another sign that Kiev is in a position to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive.
In his overnight speech, the Ukrainian president said he met with army officers not only to discuss training, tactics and ammunition materials “but also about the timing. “
“That is the most important thing, the moment when we are going to move forward,” Mr. Zelenskyy.
“We will. They have been done. “
Zelenskyy also said that US-provided Patriot anti-missile systems “guarantee a hundred percent interception rate” and would help Ukraine achieve victory over Russia.
The president said that with the successes of the army “and with our patriots, we will have to continue to respond to Russia and all its manifestations of evil. “
His comments are a series of night and day attacks on Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine with Russian missiles and drones, the maximum of which was intercepted, officials said.
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, gave the impression of recommending that Patriot systems intercept Russian ballistic missiles heading toward Kiev in a wonderful attack this morning.
“If the Iskander-M missiles are intercepted, conclusions can be drawn about the means that were aimed in particular at the targets: ballistic targets,” he told Ukrainian television.
Russian forces launched attacks around the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut today, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In its evening update on the battlefield, the unit said no offensive operations had been carried out around the besieged city that has been the scene of the war’s longest and bloodiest war so far.
The Russian projectiles hit the town of Toretsk, about 34 km (21 miles) southwest of Bakhmut, killing at least two people, according to local reports (see our 6:35 p. m. article). m. ).
Wagner’s mercenaries claimed to have taken Bakhmut just over a week ago before they began ceding positions to normal Russian troops; however, Kiev insists its forces still control a small part of the city.
A senior Ukrainian official said over the weekend that Russian fighters had toned down attacks in and around Bakhmut to regroup and build capacity.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy commemorated Memorial Day in the United States by honoring Americans who joined the fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
American citizens were among thousands of foreign volunteer infantrymen who chose to serve in the Ukrainian aspect of the conflict.
Although there are no official figures on the death toll in the war, media and other reports put the U. S. death toll at about 20.
Ukrainian troops continue to retaliate from the Donetsk region front as Russian attacks continue.
Moscow controls part of the region and is pushing to claim the other half.
In those images, a soldier writes a message on a howitzer before firing it toward Russian positions, as he prepares to launch a reconnaissance drone.
A senior official of Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the peace plan proposed through Kiev is the only way to end the Russian invasion, and that the time for mediation talks is over.
Top diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva said Ukraine would not make a ceasefire that would allow Russia to retain its territorial gains.
He said Kiev was seeking to enact its 10-point peace plan, which calls for the full withdrawal of troops from Moscow.
China, Brazil, the Vatican and South Africa have laid out what they see as imaginable peace plans for the standoff in recent months.
But Zhovkva said: “There cannot be a Brazilian peace plan, nor a Chinese peace plan, nor a South African peace plan when we communicate about the war in Ukraine. “
He also silenced Pope Francis’ calls for discussions with Russia.
“In this time of open war, we don’t want mediators. It’s too late for mediation,” Zhovkva said.
The adviser said reaction to Ukraine’s peace plan had been positive at the G7 summit in Japan earlier this month, and “not a single formula is afraid of the [G7] countries. “
The Russian attacks are having a “major mental effect” on Kiev’s citizens even though deaths in the capital are rare, an army expert said.
General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of Britain’s Joint Forces Command, told Sky News he was “probably a target” of Moscow’s forces ahead of the much-vaunted Ukrainian counter-offensive.
He said the spate of attacks in Kiev “doesn’t do much in terms of death and destruction, but obviously has a primary mental effect on the population. “
Sir Richard added: “Every time a Ukrainian air defense missile launcher fires a missile at a reasonable drone, it’s one less missile. . . It is also about to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses. “
The former commander said Russian forces “will do everything possible to diminish Ukraine’s confidence” in the counteroffensive, with the air war being “a very important component of what will happen next. “
Sir Richard also explained that it is difficult to assess the “battle of wills” in relation to conflict.
“With what firmness, with what determination will the Russians protect the trenches and moats when the Ukrainians show up with the NATO apparatus and all the fighting will that we have noticed so far?
“And from the Ukrainian point of view, when they have a well-defended position, will they have the will to continue?
The counter-offensive will be a “costly undertaking”, Sir Richard said.
CCTV of the moment debris from an intercepted missile crashed into traffic on a busy Kiev road.
As we reported, Ukrainian officials said Russia today fired 11 ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital in broad sunlight, and all were shot down.
Missile debris fell in Kiev’s northern and central neighborhoods this morning, landing amid traffic on a city street and also setting a fire on the roof of a building, according to the city’s military administration.
We had an update on the number of reported casualties in a Russian attack in the Donetsk region of Ukraine today.
Earlier, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said that a user was killed when a shell hit a fuel station in the city of Toretsk (see our article of 16:05).
In a subsequent Telegram article, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said two other people were killed in movements in Toretsk allegedly linked to high-explosive aerial bombs.
A multi-story building was also broken in the attack, according to M. Kyrylenko.
Eight civilians were wounded in the bombing, he said.
Sky News independently determines battlefield reporting.