A civilian was killed last night in a Russian shelling attack on a five-story apartment block in Kherson, southern Ukraine, regional authorities said today, while the death toll from Saturday’s attack in Kiev rose to five.
The deceased in Kherson is a 44-year-old man, the Kherson regional prosecutor’s office reported via Telegram. A woman was badly injured when one of the projectiles thrown at the room where she was sleeping exploded in her room, adds that source.
In the capital, on the other hand, the bodies of two other fatalities were found in the rubble of the building destroyed by an attack in the Solomianski district, according to information from the Ukrinform portal, which is sent to the Kiev mayor’s office.
This adds up to five the total number of civilians killed in the attack registered yesterday Saturday in the Ukrainian capital, in which more than twenty Russian missiles were launched on Kyiv, as previously reported by the mayor, Vitali Klichkó.
Rubble from one of the intercepted rockets fell on the aforementioned building, causing deaths and injuries.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired around 80 shells at various towns in the Belgorod border region over the past 24 hours, according to the local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
“In the Graivoron district, 34 mortar shells were fired at the border checkpoint in the town of Kózinka and six at the Ponuri village. In the town of Graivoron, the enemy launched an explosive device from a drone at a house,” reported on his Telegram channel.
As a result of the attack there were no casualties, he said.
In addition, he pointed out that the Ukrainian forces attacked the towns of Krasni Jutor and Zhuravilovka on Saturday, which they bombarded with seven and three artillery shells, respectively.
In the Borisovsky district, the Ukrainians fired eight times at the town of Beriozovka.
In the Valuysk district, the town of Kukuyevka was attacked twice, as was the town of Stariy in the Volokolonsky district.
“In the Shebékino district, the towns of Belianka and Nóvaya Tavolzhanka were attacked with mortar fire, six and two attacks were detected respectively. Five mortar shells were launched against the town of Pankov and three against Terezovka,” Gladkov reported.
The Ukrainian presidency considers that the head of the Wagner group of Russian mercenaries, Yevgueni Prigozhin, humiliated the Kremlin and evidenced the erosion of President Vladimir Putin’s power, despite his refusal to advance on Moscow after negotiating his withdrawal with Belarus.
“It was a phenomenal election… You almost override Putin, take control of the central authorities and suddenly you retire… because a disreputable intermediary (Alekandr) Lukashenko promises you security guarantees,” wrote the adviser to the presidency, Mijailo Podoliak, in his twitter account.
The “Putin elite” has lived 24 hours in fear, continues the message of the president’s adviser Volodimir Zelenski, to finally assert that Prigozhin “humiliated” the Kremli leader with this and demonstrated that he does not have the “monopoly of violence”.
Podoliak’s message follows the crisis precipitated yesterday by the Wagner group’s takeover of the city of Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, and the subsequent advance of its fighters in the direction of Moscow.
Finally, the leader of the Wagner group himself announced his withdrawal, after mediation by Lukashenko, and the return of his fighters to the permanent bases, arguing that this would prevent bloodshed.
His columns were about 200 kilometers from Moscow and, after the withdrawal announcement, the “Wagnerites” themselves began their return to the group’s permanent bases from the city of Rostov-on-Don.
The crisis began the night before, when Prigozhin crossed with 25,000 men, according to what he claimed, the Russian border into the Rostov region from Ukraine to advance throughout Saturday towards the capital.
According to the Kremlin, part of the agreement reached through Lukanshenko’s mediation consists of Prigozhin moving to Belarus and that there be charges against him, as well as that the “Wagnerites” who were part of his mutiny are not prosecuted.
