KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces fired missiles and projectiles into Ukrainian towns and villages Saturday after the Russian military announced it would step up its attacks on its neighbor. Ukraine reported that at least 17 other civilians were killed.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu gave “instructions to further accentuate the movements of the sets in all operational areas, in order to exclude the launch of the Kyiv regime of large movements of rockets and artillery on the civilian infrastructure and citizens of settlements in Donbass and other regions. “his ministry said Saturday.
The Russian army’s crusade has focused on eastern Donbass, but new attacks have also hit the northern and southern regions. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s largest city right now, has been heavily bombed in recent days, and Ukrainian officials and local commanders fear a large-scale Russian attack on the northern city is looming.
At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested Ukrainians fall into the trap of Russia’s attempts to scare them with warnings about the horrific missile attacks ahead, which he said were aimed at dividing Ukrainian society.
“Sometimes data guns can do more than guns,” he said in his nightly video broadcast to the nation.
“It is transparent that no Russian missile or artillery will break our unity or divert us from our path to a democratic and independent Ukraine,” he said. “And it is also transparent that Ukrainian unity cannot be broken by lies. or intimidation, falsifications or conspiracy theories. “
In the Kharkiv region, at least 3 civilians were killed and 3 others wounded on Saturday in a Russian pre-dawn attack in the city of Chuhuiv, which is just 75 miles from the Russian border, police said.
Serhiy Bolvinov, deputy chief of the Kharkiv region police force, said 4 missiles believed to have been fired from the Russian city of Belgorod hit a building, a school and administrative buildings around 3:30 a. m. Writing on Facebook, he said the 3 bodies were discovered.
Lyudmila Krekshina, who lives in the construction she hit, said a husband and wife were killed, as well as an old man on the floor.
Another resident said he was lucky to have survived.
“I’m going to run and hide in the bathroom. I couldn’t handle it and that’s what it stored for me,” Valentina Bushuyeva said. Pointing to his destroyed apartment, he said: “There’s the bathroom: explosion. Kitchen: half room. And I survived because I stood still.
In the neighboring Sumy region, one civilian was killed and at least seven wounded after Russians opened mortar and artillery fire on three towns and villages not far from the Russian border, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said on Saturday.
In the besieged Donetsk region, seven civilians have been killed and 14 wounded in the past 24 hours in Russian attacks on cities, its governor said on Saturday.
Later that day, on the outskirts of Pokrovsk, a town in the Donetsk region, a woman said a neighbor was killed by a rocket attack Saturday afternoon. Tetiana Pashko said she herself suffered a cut on her leg and that one of her family’s dogs died. .
She said her 35-year-old neighbor, who died in her front yard, evacuated earlier this year as requested by authorities but returned home after not being able to do so on her own.
Your tax-deductible donation to The Columbian’s community-funded journalism program will help inform locally about key issues including homelessness, housing, transportation, and the environment. Reporters will focus on narrative, investigative, and data-driven narratives.
Local journalism wants your help. It is a component of a healthy network and a healthy democracy.