At least 11 people were killed when Russian missiles struck civilian buildings in an overnight attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, regional officials said Tuesday.
Four people were killed in a five-story apartment building, which was engulfed in fire, while another seven were killed inside a private company’s warehouse, Gov. Serhiy Lysak of the Dnipropetrovsk region said on Telegram.
He said that search operations had been called off.
Kryvyi Rih mayor Oleksander Vilkul said on social media that an additional 28 people were wounded following the strike.
Zelensky shared images taken in the aftermath of the missile strike on Telegram, featuring firefighters battling a fierce blaze taking over an apartment building within the city.
“More terrorist missiles,” Zelensky wrote. “Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people.”
Emergency workers extinguish a fire after missiles hit a multi-story apartment building in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on June 13, 2023. AP
Police officers and rescuers stand next to the bodies of people killed by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on June 13, 2023. REUTERSRussia has continuously denied targeting civilians throughout the course of the now 15-month-long invasion.
In response to the latest strike, the Russian Defense Ministry said forces used long-range air-launched cruise missiles to strike Ukrainian military reserves and depots holding Western weapons and ammunition.
The aerial aggression was just one of the targetted attacks Russia launched across Ukraine overnight going into Tuesday.
What to know about this stage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
1. Bakhmut
Ukrainian forces continued advancing around the city of Bakhmut in the east, claiming gains along the Bila Hora-Andriivka and Bila Hora-Kurdyumivka lines southwest of the city that was captured by Russian troops in May. Over the past week, Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Kyiv’s fighters had liberated more than 1.5 square miles of territory in the area, including an important position outside the strategic village of Klishchiivka. Capturing the village itself, which lies on higher ground, could potentially allow Ukrainian soldiers to encircle Russians inside Bakhmut.
2. Tavria
Ukraine claimed to have recaptured several villages in the south of the country as part of its budding push toward the Sea of Azov, with the aim of cutting off Russia’s land bridge linking occupied areas in the east to Crimea. A general in charge of that sector said his troops repelled 27 enemy attacks and inflicted hundreds of casualties on the enemy.
3. Zaporizhzhia
Kyiv’s forces launched a successful missile strike on a Russian base in the occupied town of Tokmak in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, killing as many as 200 soldiers and the town commandant. Overall in the eastern theater, Ukraine’s military said its troops had retaken 65 square miles of territory since the start of the counteroffensive in early June.
4. Berdyansk and Melitopol
Kyiv’s forces reportedly inched forward more than half a mile in the Berdyansk and Melitopol directions in the south in recent days — and a total of more than 5 miles since the beginning of counteroffensive operations in these directions. In Berdyansk, a key port city on the Black Sea, a Ukrainian Storm Shadow missile strike this week leveled a hotel housing Russian military commanders, among them a high-ranking general who was killed.
5. Bakhmut
Kyiv said its troops had advanced about a mile on the flanks of the ravaged city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which was seized by Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries in May after months of fighting and handed over to the regular units. Moscow claimed it had fought off the assault, and senior US officials said that Ukrainian troops in the east sustained “significant” losses in soldiers and equipment.
6. Belgorod
Pro-Ukrainian rebels have been carrying out raids into the Russian city of Belgorod located on the border with Ukraine, as Kyiv’s forces continued shelling the city and sowing chaos. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from the region, sparking fury in the Kremlin. Partisans taking part in the Belgorod campaign said when Crimea is liberated, they will march on Moscow.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was bombarded by Iranian-made Shahed drones and the surrounding region was shelled, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.
Two civilians were wounded by the shelling and a drone strike damaged two buildings in Kharkiv.
Kyiv also came under fire on Tuesday, according to the military administration, which said that incoming missiles were destroyed by air defenses. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Rescuers carry the body of a person killed by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih on June 13, 2023. REUTERS
People react at a site of the residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on June 13, 2023. REUTERSAir defenses were able to shoot down 10 of 14 cruise missiles and one of four of the drones, Ukraine’s General Staff noted on Facebook.
Even with the recent Russian onslaught, Ukrainian forces are still reporting “moving forward” outside Bkahmut, which Moscow took last month following the war’s most bloody battle to date.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground troops further alluded to Ukraine’s defensive strategies on Tuesday, saying that Russian forces are “losing positions on the flanks” near the highly contested city.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the country’s troops have recaptured seven villages in eastern Ukraine, indicating small successes in the first week of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
With Post wires
