At least four dead and dozens injured in Ukraine after “massive” Russian missile attacks

First modification: 01/08/2024 – 21:21

4 min

The Russian bombings on Ukraine do not stop. On the night of Sunday, October 7 to Monday, October 8, Russia launched a new wave of missile attacks on eastern, central and western Ukraine. The attacks left at least four dead and about 30 injured, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The attacks with hypersonic and cruise missiles were described as “massive” by the Ukrainian authorities.

Unlike last winter, when it targeted Ukraine's electrical production and distribution network, the Russian military claimed it was targeting Ukraine's military defense industry.

“This morning a multiple attack was carried out with high-precision, long-range sea- and air-based weapons, including the Kinjal hypersonic missile system, against facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex,” the Ukrainian military-industrial complex reported on Monday. Russian Ministry of Defense.

Russian missile attacks also affected civilian infrastructure

However, the bombings hit several civilian areas across the country. In Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, located in the center of the country, a 62-year-old man died while a shopping center and dozens of houses and apartment buildings were damaged after being hit by nine Russian missiles, he said. Oleksandr Vilkul, the mayor of the city. At least 38 people were injured.

“The mad enemy attacked civilians again,” wrote the region's governor, Serhiy Lysak, on the Telegram application. “He directed missiles at people.”

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, an industrial complex and a school were damaged by at least four missile attacks, Governor Oleh Synehubov said. A 63-year-old woman was killed in another attack on a village south of Kharkiv, he added.

In addition, two people lost their lives in attacks on the city of Khmelnitsky, in the west of the country, while the city of Zaporizhzhia, where a nuclear plant is located, also suffered shelling during the night.

Intensify bombing to saturate Ukrainian air defenses

For its part, the Ukrainian Army claimed on Monday to have destroyed 18 of the 51 missiles fired by the Russians against “important infrastructure” or industrial and military buildings.

“A large number of ballistic missiles were launched today,” Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat told Ukrainian television. “Many say the rate (of missiles destroyed) is not very high,” he added. He felt that although the Army would prefer to have “a better ratio”, it was still a “good result”.

Attacks on both sides of the border have increased in recent weeks. Western officials and analysts had warned that Russia was stockpiling its cruise missiles in preparation for a winter bombing strategy, as bad weather complicates ground advances on the 1,500-kilometer front line.

The intensification of Russian bombing can also be analyzed as a strategy by Moscow to saturate air defenses with the aim of progressively depleting Ukrainian ammunition reserves in an insecure context regarding military support from Western countries in favor of Ukraine. .

Preventive evacuations in the border city of Belgorod, on the Russian side

On the Russian side, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced that 300 residents of the city of Belgorod had chosen to be “temporarily evacuated” to be housed in areas further away from the border. This is an unprecedented preventive measure for a large Russian city since the start of the war in February 2022.

“They are being accommodated in temporary reception centers in Stari Oskol, Gubkin and the Korochanski district,” further from the border, Gladkov said on Telegram.

On December 30, a Ukrainian attack on Belgorod left 25 dead, the highest number of civilian casualties on Russian soil since the start of Moscow's offensive. In retaliation, President Vladimir Putin promised an “escalation” of attacks on Ukraine.

When the Russian Army massively attacked several Ukrainian cities at the end of December and the beginning of the year, causing dozens of deaths and injuries, the Ukrainian forces counterattacked, multiplying their attacks against Belgorod and its region.

In this context, the Belgorod mayor's office had already asked the population for the first time last Friday, January 5, to protect their windows to “protect themselves” from the glass fragments caused by the Ukrainian bombings.

The growing concern of the Russian population in the region had another consequence: the regional authorities also announced that the start of the new school year in Belgorod and surrounding cities would be postponed from January 9 to 19.

With AP, Reuters and AFP