As Ukrainian forces south of the city of Kherson, occupied by Russian troops since the beginning of the war, the head of Kherson province, selected through the Kremlin, urges civilians to “take their young people and leave” to Russia.
Vladimir Saldo said Thursday on Telegram that Ukrainian missile movements were injuring civilians and damaging buildings, and asked the Kremlin to organize evacuations of 4 cities, Kherson.
Saldo said Kyiv is retaliating against Kherson, one of the 4 Ukrainian regions Moscow claims to have annexed, for allegedly voting to join Russia last month in elections widely discredited as farces. Ukraine has maintained that it is not targeting its own civilians.
“We have advised all citizens of the Kherson area, if there is such a desire, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile attacks . . . that they pass to other regions (of Russia),” Saldo wrote.
Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said later that day that Russia would provide loose housing to citizens of the region who wish to move.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has sunk deeper into Kherson province, even though officials recently stated that momentum has slowed as Russia strengthens its front lines.
Usa. U. S. AND ALLIES SUPPORT UKRAINE’S AIR DEFENSE: Eight more arrested in Crimean bridge bombing: updates
Other developments
Russian strikes have killed thirteen other people and wounded 37 in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s presidential office said. Three of the deaths occurred in the southern city of Mykolaiv when missiles destroyed a building, but an 11-year-old boy was pulled out of the rubble.
NATO defense ministers met in Brussels for a moment of talks to assess the scenario in Ukraine after the alliance pledged on Wednesday to supply more air defense aircraft to the country.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it destroyed at least 4 Russian helicopters in 18 minutes on Wednesday in the south of the country.
►The Ukrainian army estimates that more than 63,000 Russian infantrymen were killed or wounded in the war. Russia has not released figures and Ukraine does not announce its own losses.
► The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, thanked Vladimir Putin for what he said was from Russia for the organization of the next World Cup, which starts on November 20.
Russian bombs introduced via Iranian-made drones hit the Kyiv region on Thursday, as the Ukrainian capital bore the brunt of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fatal wrath.
The attack comes 3 days after damaging missile movements marked the first attack on the city since the early days of the war, when Russia’s march to Kyiv was repulsed by Ukrainian forces.
“A new attack through suicide drones against critical infrastructure,” deputy head of the presidential bureau Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram. “The competent facilities are already . . . documenting the consequences of the attacks. Don’t forget about safety, stay on shelter alarms!”
The British Ministry of Defense said the low-flying drones were required to provide deep strike characteristics on Ukrainian territory, and many would have been destroyed before reaching their targets.
Missile and mortar fire in the country’s southern and eastern cities had become commonplace in the seven months since the Russian invasion began, yet Kyiv, in north-central Ukraine, had been general since March. That replaced dramatically after an explosion on the Russian — The Crimean bridge built on Saturday reduced road and rail traffic, and embarrassed Putin’s government. Missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities on Monday in retaliation.
The United States and its allies are here to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses.
Russian President Vladimir Putin would cross “very little boundary” if he ordered the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Thursday. making plans for nuclear exercises in the coming days. Stoltenberg spoke after an assembly of NATO’s nuclear plans group, held at a convention of defense ministers in Brussels.
Concerns have been heightened by Putin’s insistence that he will use any means to protect what he considers Russian territory. However, the Kremlin has dismissed discussions about nuclear weapons as a tool of the West to justify the militarization of Ukraine.
The speaker of Russia’s lower parliament said more than 70 electrical installations in Ukraine had been bombed in retaliation this week. He threatened an “even harsher” reaction to the long-term attacks from Ukraine, which has not claimed responsibility for the attack on the bridge. Power outage can be major as winter approaches across the battered country.
“All organizers and perpetrators of terrorist attacks will have to be tracked; those who resist will have to be destroyed,” State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram.
The International Monetary Fund has Ukraine with $1. 3 billion in additional emergency investments for “priority budgetary needs,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Thursday. “Thank you to our partners for your unwavering support,” Shmyhal said on Twitter.
The IMF has given Ukraine $2. 7 billion since the Russian invasion began. The fund will soon start working with Ukraine to “prepare a new special program that will start next year,” Shmyhal said.
Britain announced Thursday that it will get missiles for the complex NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine. Britain also offers many more aerial drones for data collection and logistical support, as well as 18 artillery shells.
“These weapons will help Ukraine protect its skies from attacks and its overall missile defense along the U. S. NASAMS. “British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.
Contribute: The Associated Press