Russian missiles rained down on the Kyiv region Thursday, the first time in weeks the Kremlin has targeted the area surrounding the Ukrainian capital.
“Russia, with the help of missiles, is mounting revenge for the widespread popular resistance,” regional Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said on Ukrainian TV. “Ukraine has already broken Russia’s plans and will continue to defend itself.”
Kuleba said on social media that infrastructure in Vyshgorod had been hit in the attack, but provided no further details nor casualty figures.
The Chernihiv region was also hit Thursday, with Gov. Vyacheslav Chaus saying the village of Honcharivska was hit by rockets fired from the Belarussian territory.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and a favorite target for Russian artillery, was also shelled Thursday.
A residential building damaged by a Russian military strike in the town of Toretsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine July 28, 2022. via REUTERS
Rescuers evacuate an injured man from a building destroyed by Russian forces in Toretsk, Ukraine on July 28, 2022. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
Emergency workers carry a woman from a bombed residential building in Toretsk, Ukraine on July 28, 2022. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERSThe attacks came as Russian forces are making a renewed push for control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial regions — known collectively as the Donbas — following a so-called “operational pause” to lick wounds and resupply after costly victories in the Luhansk province earlier this month.
It also comes amid a new wave of Kremlin bravado, including Chechen troops whose uniforms include a threat to take the Ukrainian capital.
Russian troops, hamstrung by haphazard logistics and low morale, tried and failed to take Kyiv and the rest of northern Ukraine in the opening months of the war.
A Ukrainian fires self-propelled artillery toward Russian forces in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on July 27, 2022. AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for additional military aid from the US. STR/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER/AFP via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich told reporters that a counterattack was underway to liberate Kherson in the south — the first city to fall to the Russians.
Ukrainian forces pummelled a key bridge in the Kherson region with American-made rocket artillery this week, in a reportedly successful effort to hamper Russian resupply.
Arestovich said Russian troops in the region had three options in the coming days: “retreat, if possible, surrender or be destroyed.”
Ukrainian defense head Oleksiy Danilov said Thursday that Russians were massing troops to reinforce the region, warning that “A very large-scale movement of their troops has begun.”
With Post wires
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a government meeting in Moscow, Russia on July 28, 2022. Mikhail Klimentyev/TASS via ZUMA Press
Ukrainian regional Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba claimed an “infrastructure object” was damaged from Russian missile strikes in Kyiv. REUTERS/Vladyslav Sodel