Fighting between Russia and Ukraine continues in the Russian border region of Kursk. More than 76,000 people are on the run. In response, the Russian air force attacked targets in the Ukrainian capital Kiev during the night. A man and his four-year-old son were killed.
Two people were killed in a nighttime Russian missile attack near the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Ukrainian rescue service announced on Sunday that the two victims were a man and his four-year-old son. AFP journalists reported explosions in the center and east of Kiev late on Saturday evening. The Ukrainian Air Force announced on the online service Telegram that two Russian missiles were heading for the capital. Meanwhile, the governor of the western Russian border region of Kursk reported 13 injured in the city of the same name as a result of a Ukrainian air strike.
As a reporter from the AFP news agency reported, warning sirens were blaring in Kiev. At least two flashes of lightning were seen in the night sky. The Kiev military administration announced on Telegram that the city’s air defense systems had been activated to repel the attacks.
Parts of Russian missiles fell on residential buildings
According to the state emergency service, parts of a rocket fell on residential buildings in the Kiev suburb of Brovary. A 35-year-old man and his four-year-old son were found dead in the rubble of a building during search and rescue operations, it was reported. Three other people were seriously injured.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, other Ukrainian regions besides Kyiv were also affected by Russian air strikes. There were drone attacks in five other regions, the Air Force said.
Almost every night, Russia launches massive drone and missile attacks on cities in Ukraine, which has been defending itself against the war of aggression since February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been urging allies for weeks to quickly deliver new air defense systems.
There had already been fears of renewed Russian air strikes on Ukraine in response to the advance of the Ukrainian army in the western Russian border region of Kursk. On the Ukrainian side, 20,000 people were evacuated from the Sumy region bordering Kursk, according to authorities.
USA not informed by Ukraine about “shift” of front
Russian and Ukrainian troops fought in the border region on Saturday for the fifth day in a row. According to independent observers, the Ukrainian army has apparently advanced several dozen kilometers in the Kursk region since the start of its advance on Tuesday. President Zelenskyy commented on the offensive for the first time in his evening speech on Saturday and said that Kiev was trying to “shift” the war to Russia.
Kiev had remained silent about the move for several days, but now Zelensky said that Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky had “reported on the front, our actions and on the shift of the war to the territory of the aggressor.” Ukraine was thus proving that it could “establish justice and put pressure on the aggressor.” The USA, Kiev’s closest ally, had stated that it had not been informed of the operation in advance.
On other front lines, Ukraine reported on Saturday the lowest number of “combat sorties” on its territory since June 10. This could be seen as a sign that the advance in Kursk will relieve pressure on other front lines where the Russian army had recently increased pressure.
Russia evacuates tens of thousands from border region
In view of the Ukrainian advance in Kursk, the authorities there reportedly brought more than 76,000 people to safety on the Russian side. Additional trains were deployed to the capital Moscow for the refugees, and aid supplies were also brought to the border region. “The war has come to us,” said one woman upon her arrival at the train station in Moscow.
Meanwhile, according to regional governor Alexei Smirnov, 13 people were injured in the city of Kursk, two of them seriously, in a nighttime Ukrainian air strike on Sunday night. The residents were injured when debris from a fired Ukrainian missile fell on a building.
The Russian authorities had previously announced the start of anti-terrorist operations in the three border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk. This gives the security forces and army extensive powers. Citizens’ freedom of movement is restricted, vehicles can be confiscated, telephone conversations can be tapped and certain areas can be closed to access. The Russian state anti-terrorism committee said on Friday that Ukraine had launched an “unprecedented attempt to destabilize the situation in a number of regions in our country”.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
