At least three people were killed and five others injured Thursday in a Russian shelling in the village of Chornobaiyvka, in the Kherson region.
Russia said on Friday it had destroyed 16 Ukrainian drones in the south of the country and above the annexed Crimean peninsula.
During the night from Thursday to Friday, “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using aerial drones against sites on the territory of the Russian Federation was foiled”said the Russian Defense Ministry.
“Air defense systems destroyed 16 drones, including 13 over the Crimean Peninsula and three over the territory of the Volgograd region” (south), he said in a press release.
Ukrainian assaults against Russian territory have increased in recent months against the backdrop of a counter-offensive launched by Kyiv at the beginning of June.
Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, is regularly targeted because it is the rear base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and a key supply route for Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine .
Deadly Russian strike in the Kherson region
At least three people were killed and five injured Thursday in a Russian bombing in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities said, citing the use of cluster munitions.
“The Russians bombed Chornobayivka in the Kherson region. We already know that the bombing was carried out using cluster munitions”said the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Iermak, on Telegram.
According to Interior Minister Igor Klymenko, this “powerful artillery bombardment” left three dead and five injured. “More than 60 residential buildings and farms were damaged”he said on Telegram.
Cluster munitions are a very controversial weapon because the charges they disperse can cause many collateral civilian casualties. Both Russia and Ukraine use them.
In the Kherson region, each camp is entrenched on a bank of the Dnieper. The eponymous town has been regularly targeted by Russian troops since their withdrawal across the river at the end of 2022.
The Ukrainian general staff for its part affirmed Thursday that Russian forces are continuing their attempts to surround the stronghold of Avdiivka in the east.
“Our soldiers firmly hold the defense, inflicting significant losses on the enemy”assured a spokesperson, Andriï Kovalev.
An industrial city now largely destroyed, Avdiïvka has been the target of large-scale assaults by Russian forces for several months.
Russian journalist injured in Ukraine strike dies
A Russian journalist injured, according to Moscow, in a Ukrainian strike in the Zaporizhia region, partially occupied in southern Ukraine, has died of his wounds, his employer, the public television channel Rossia 24, said on Thursday.
“An irreparable loss: our correspondent Boris Maksudov, who worked in the zone of the special military operation and came under fire from Ukrainian forces, died from his wounds”declared a presenter from Rossia 24, expressing to her loved ones the “condolences” chain.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the journalists, who were preparing a report on “the bombing of localities by the Ukrainian army”were targeted by a Ukrainian drone in the Zaporizhia region.
The Zaporizhia region is one of four territories Russia has claimed to annex in 2022, along with Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk, even though its army does not fully control them.
Around fifteen journalists have died since the start of the assault by the Moscow army in February 2022, according to specialized NGOs. In May, Arman Soldin, AFP video coordinator in Ukraine, was killed during a Russian rocket attack in the east of the country.
ADVERTISEMENTRussia, however, never recognizes its responsibility for the deaths of journalists attributed to strikes by its army.
