Deadly Russian strikes pound Ukraine for 2nd day

Russia fired a wave of attack drones and missiles at Ukraine that killed at least four people, authorities said Tuesday after the second night of heavy strikes across the war-battered nation.

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The overnight barrage came a day after the Kremlin launched one of its largest-ever aerial attacks on Ukraine, which targeted energy facilities and killed several people.

Ukraine’s air force said Tuesday it downed half of the 10 missiles and 60 of the 81 Iranian-designed attack drones launched from several regions of Russia and from occupied-Crimea.

“Unfortunately, despite the effective work of our air defence systems, four people were killed and 16 were wounded,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media.

He said rescue work was ongoing at the impact sites and vowed a response to the attacks.

“Crimes against humanity cannot be committed with impunity,” he said.

AFP journalists in the capital Kyiv heard air raid sirens echo over the city throughout the night as well as an explosion, likely from air defence systems.

Local authorities said earlier on Tuesday that two people had been killed in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and two in the central city of Kryvyi Rig after a missile struck a hotel.

The hotel strike comes just days after a team working for the Reuters news agency were hit by a missile in their hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, killing a safety advisor working with the agency.

The Russian attacks on Monday triggered widespread blackouts and spurred condemnation from Ukraine’s allies in Europe and the United States.

Russia said the attack had targeted infrastructure linked to the Ukrainian military. NATO member Poland said its airspace was violated during the barrage, probably by a drone.

Since invading in February 2022, Russia has launched repeated large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, including punishing strikes on energy facilities.

In Kyiv, Ukraine’s electricity grid operator said Tuesday that emergency blackouts would be applied throughout the day to reduce pressure on the grid following the fresh attacks that damaged energy infrastructure nationwide.

“Ukraine’s power system is currently recovering from nine massive Russian attacks, with a power deficit and emergency and scheduled repairs underway at power facilities,” Ukrenergo said in a statement, urging Ukrainians to reduce their electricity consumption.

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The bombardment comes as Ukrainian forces are pushing an offensive in Russia’s border region of Kursk, a surprise operation that has seen Kyiv gain swathes of territory in three weeks.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Kursk and Ukraine, said Tuesday he was aware of reports the Ukrainian army had tried to cross the border.

“Information has emerged that the enemy is trying to break through the border of the Belgorod region,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

“According to the Russian defense ministry, the situation on the border remains difficult but under control,” he said on social media.

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Zelensky said late Monday that Ukraine’s surprise cross-border incursion into Kursk region launched on August 6 was partially to “compensate” for Kyiv’s inability to strike deeper into Russian territory.

He has been appealing to Ukraine’s allies to allow his forces to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russian territory as part of efforts to thwart more aerial bombardments.

Despite Ukraine’s push inside Kursk, which Kyiv hoped would divert Russian forces from the front line in the east of the war-battered country, Moscow has been making steady gains.

Zelensky said late Monday that defending the logistics hub of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, was “difficult” and that Ukraine was strengthening its positions there as Russian forces advance.

Russia’s defence ministry Tuesday said its forces had captured the village of Orlivka near Pokrovsk.

This week, AFP journalists saw civilians evacuating by train from Pokrovsk, once home to around 60,000 people, with panicked residents carrying their belongings in bags and pets with them.