Image: (APA/AFP/DIMITAR DILKOFF)
Air alert sounded for hours in about two-thirds of the country. According to media reports, explosions could be heard in the Cherson region and in the Zaporizhia region. According to official Ukrainian information, a food warehouse in Odessa caught fire after Russian shelling. In the embattled Bakhmut, Russia intensified its actions at the front.
The Russian mercenary group Wagner had previously given up their threatened withdrawal from the city. According to the military, eight other places in the Sumy region in the north-east were also under increased Russian fire.
Numerous explosions
At least five people were injured in the Russian airstrikes on Kiev, according to the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Three people were wounded in explosions in the Solomjanskyi district, two others from drone wreckage falling on a two-storey building in the Svyatoshyn district. The attacks continued. Reuters eyewitnesses reported numerous explosions in the city. Local authorities say the air defense systems repelled the attacks. It was not immediately clear how many drones were shot down on Kiev.
The Kiev military administration announced that wreckage of a drone had fallen on a runway at Zhulyany Airport, one of the two passenger airports in the Ukrainian capital, and that rescue workers were on site. There was initially no information about dead or injured.
Fire in food warehouse in Odessa
In the Black Sea port city of Odessa, a food warehouse caught fire from Russian rocket fire, Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the region’s military administration, wrote on his Telegram channel alongside photos of a large building engulfed in flames. Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne also reported a fire following an explosion in Odessa. Explosions can also be heard in Cherson.
According to Ukrainian military information, Russia intensified the shelling of the city with heavy weapons in the embattled Bakhmut. Russian forces are deploying more modern equipment and redeploying their troops, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyj, Ukraine’s ground forces commander, said after a visit to the frontline. “The Russians still hope to capture the city by May 9. Our job is to thwart that.” The Ukrainian armed forces would do everything to prevent this. “Today it is important to make decisions as quickly as possible and to anticipate the actions of the enemy.” May 9 is Victory Day in Russia, marked with a military parade in Moscow marking the victory over Nazi Germany.
Source: Nachrichten
