Debris from downed Russian drones struck civilian targets early Saturday in Kharkiv, injuring three people and sparking a fire at an office building.
Russian troops launched a massive attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight from Saturday to Sunday, causing several large fires and injuring at least four people, including a child.
According to local authorities, the most serious fire occurred in warehouses with a total area of around 3,000 square meters. A two-story office and warehouse building, as well as a tire repair shop, caught fire due to falling drone debris.
Kharkiv Region Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram that a 13-year-old child and a woman were being treated at the hospital, and a second woman was being treated at the site. Emergency services are bringing the fire under control, he added.
In the Pavlogradskyi district of the Dnipro region, air strikes Iranian drones Shahed damaged critical infrastructure and three private homes, one of which caught fire. A man and a woman were injured and hospitalized in moderate condition.
In total, Russian troops have shelled the territory of 10 regions of Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
According to the Ukrainian army, Russian forces attacked 141 settlements and 222 infrastructures using different types of weapons – mortars, artillery, tanks, MLRS, surface-to-air missiles, drones and tactical aircraft.
Moscow: Armed Forces of Ukraine hit Crimea with ATACMS
The Russian Defense Ministry said that Crimea busy had been attacked by ATACMS missiles during the night and that they were all shot down.
Separately, the ministry said Friday that its air defense forces destroyed six drones launched by Ukraine overnight. Five of the drones were shot down over the Belgorod regionbordering Ukraine, and another over the Crimean peninsulaindicated the Ministry of Defense on Telegram.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced the UK’s intention to provide long-term support to Ukraine and declared that Ukrainian forces could carry out long-range strikes into Russia with weapons supplied by the United Kingdom.
The first deliveries of new US military assistance arrived in Ukraine this weekbut it will likely be several weeks before Western weapons and munitions arrive on the front line.
Pressure increases on Chassiv Yar
Meanwhile, Russian troops continue their offensive in the vicinity of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region – some reports indicate that they have received orders to capture the city by May 9, Victory Day of the Soviet Union in the Second World War.
According to the American Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian officials continue to emphasize that the main Russia’s objective for this year 2024 remains the capture of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblastsas Russian forces plan their offensive operation for the summer of 2024.
However, according to Russian military bloggers, the success of the Russian forces there has so far been very modest. On the northern flank there was no progress, particularly due to enemy counterattacks. On the central part, the Russian armed forces reached the eastern outskirts of the canal district, but they were unable to break through it and are now trying to take it in half-cover from the flanks.
According to London, Russian forces suffer significant losses
The average daily number of Russian casualties (killed and injured) in Ukraine throughout April 2024 remained within the 2024 trend, with 899 losses per day, estimates the British Ministry of Defense on
“It is likely that the number of Russian casualties haswill increase again over the next two months, as Russia resumes offensive operations in eastern Ukraine. This follows a slight decrease in the pace of operations over the past two months since the fall of Avdiivka,” the ministry said.
“The total number of Russian casualties since the start of the conflict now stands at more than 465,000. It is likely that despite the extreme cost in human lives, Russia has fully adapted its military to attritional warfare, which relies on mass rather than quality. This use of mass force will almost certainly continue for the duration of the war in Ukraine and will have lasting effects on the future Russian army.”
