KYIV: Russia has launched a new wave of drone and missile strikes on Ukraine that killed at least four people, authorities said Tuesday, after a second night of heavy strikes across the war-battered nation amid fears of further violence. Within hours of the barrage, Ukraine claimed fresh advances in its surprise attack on Russia’s Kursk border region and reported taking nearly 600 Russian troops as prisoners in the past three weeks.
On Monday night, Russia launched one of its largest strikes since the invasion began in February 2022, targeting multiple locations across Ukraine. The assault resulted in significant damage to critical infrastructure and triggered emergency blackouts nationwide as Ukraine’s electricity grid struggled to cope with the new pressures.
The attacks included a missile strike on a hotel in Kryvyi Rig, which killed two persons, including a Ukrainian safety advisor working with Reuters in Kramatorsk who had been struck just days earlier. The death toll from the Monday missile strikes also included two people in the Zaporizhzhia region, raising the total number of civilian fatalities to at least four.
Furthermore, three other civilians were reported dead in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions due to Russian drone and artillery strikes.
Local authorities in Kyiv reported persistent air raid sirens throughout the night, with an explosion likely caused by air defence systems. The fresh round of attacks has heightened the urgency for Ukrainian officials to seek further assistance from Western allies.
Despite the ongoing bombardments, Ukrainian forces have reported significant gains in their offensive operations. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian troops have made significant progress in the Kursk region, claiming control over nearly 600 Russian soldiers as prisoners of war in recent weeks. This advance is part of a broader strategy to penetrate deeper into Russian territory and counterbalance the relentless strikes.
Zelensky said late Monday that Ukraine’s cross-border incursion 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.
Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said his forces had made fresh gains in Kursk recently and now controlled 100 towns and villages across 1,294 square km (almost 500 square miles).
He also claimed that Russian forces had redeployed some 30,000 troops to help fend off the Kursk incursion, and said Ukraine had taken 594 POWs in the weeks of the incursion — the first time Kyiv has offered a precise figure.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, acknowledged reports of Ukrainian forces attempting to breach the border, although he stated that the situation remains “under control”. Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said that Ukrainian forces now control approximately 1,294 square kilometers (nearly 500 square miles) of territory, including 100 towns and villages.
The renewed Russian offensive has drawn condemnation from Ukraine’s European and American allies, who are increasingly supportive of Kyiv’s requests for advanced weaponry. President Zelensky has called on Western nations to permit the use of provided weapons for striking deep within Russian territory, aiming to deter further aerial attacks.
