06/08/2023 – 16:01
Ukrainian President Called Attack on Medical Center “War Crime”. Russians launched dozens of cruise missiles during the night, while Ukrainians bombed a bridge in occupied territory. The president of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky, denounced on Saturday night (05/08) a Russian air attack that left several dead and wounded in a center of blood transfusion in the Kharkiv region in the east of the country.
“A Russian guided aerial missile [atingiu] a blood transfusion center in Ukraine. Tonight in the Kupiansk community in the Kharkiv region. Deaths and injuries have been reported,” wrote the leader of the Ukrainian Executive.
The president did not provide details on the number of casualties, but Ukrainian authorities later confirmed that the attack killed two people and wounded four.
“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” he said. The city of Kupiansk and nearby settlements were occupied by Russian troops in the early days of the Russian invasion, launched in February 2022.
The area was later liberated during a Ukrainian counter-offensive last September, but it continues to be a daily target of Russian missiles and bombing.
The Ukrainian president described the attack as “a war crime”, which “by itself says everything about Russian aggression”. Zelensky also appealed to “all those who value life”, for whom “defeating terrorists” is, in his opinion, “a matter of honor”.
exchange of attacks
Hours earlier, the head of state had confirmed another attack with Russian missiles against buildings of the aircraft manufacturer Motor Sich, in the Khmelnytsky region, in western Ukraine.
The new attacks came after Ukrainian forces attacked a Russian oil tanker on Friday that it was transporting in the Black Sea. In recent days, several Ukrainian drone attacks have also targeted the city of Moscow, the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Tensions have risen in the Black Sea since Russia pulled out in mid-July of the agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea.
Moscow bombed Ukrainian port infrastructure in the Black Sea, while Kiev attacked Russian ships in the same region and on the Crimean peninsula.
On Sunday, Russia again carried out a new large-scale missile attack in Ukraine, against air bases in the western region of the country. The Ukrainian Air Force claimed it shot down 30 out of 40 cruise missiles and all Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight.
Ukrainian authorities did not say which bases were hit, but the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had attacked “air bases of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the localities of Starokonstantinov in the Khmelnytsky region and Dubno in the Rivne region”.
“The objective of the bombing was achieved. All targets were hit,” the ministry said on Telegram. Still on the Russian side, the mayor of Moscow, Serguei Sobyanin, reported this Sunday that anti-aircraft defense shot down a drone approaching the capital.
Also on Sunday, the Ukrainian army fired several missiles at the Chongar bridge, which connects the annexed Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Crimea, one of which caused damage, the pro-Russian governor of the Kherson region said today.
“The enemy carried out a missile strike in the vicinity of the Chongar bridge in northern Crimea. Part of the missiles was shot down, but one hit the target. There is damage to the roadway of the bridge and repairs have already begun. There are no victims,” wrote Vladimir Saldo on Telegram.
jps (AFP, Reuters, Lusa)
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