War against Ukraine: Russia attacks cities in north-east and south-east

Ukraine reports Russian attacks on several cities – there are said to have been dead in Chuhuiv in the north-east, Nikopol in the south-east and also in Dnipro. Russia’s defense minister ordered an intensification of the attacks.

The Russian armed forces are apparently increasingly attacking Ukrainian cities with rockets from a greater distance. Goals on Saturday included Chuhuiv in the north-east and Nikopol in the south-east of the country. According to Ukrainian sources, there were several dead and injured. Sirens wailed in the capital Kyiv, warning of air raids. The attacks are the latest in a string in recent weeks in which the Russian military has used long-range missiles.

During the air raid on the city Chuhuiv Three people were killed in the Kharkiv region, the governor of the region, Oleh Synyehubov, said on the short message service Telegram. Among them is a 70-year-old woman. In addition, three people were injured. A residential building, a school and a shop were damaged. Rescue workers searched the rubble for other possible victims, wrote Synyehubov.

Reports of deaths also in Nikopol and Dnipro

In Nikopol According to the local emergency services and the regional governor, two people were killed. The dead were found under the rubble of hit buildings. The governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region, Valentyn Resnichenko, said Russian forces fired 53 Grad rockets at Nikopol.

Resnichenko also wrote on Telegram that late Friday evening Russian missiles had the city Dnipro met, which is about 120 kilometers north of Nikopol. Three people were killed and 15 injured. Rockets hit an industrial plant and a road next to it. A fire broke out in the factory. It is currently being examined how severe the degree of destruction of the infrastructure is. Footage on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the buildings and burning cars.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned his compatriots to take alarm sirens seriously and to seek protection. The Russian attackers saw that the Ukrainian forces were gradually increasing and tried to intimidate the people and cause as much damage as possible.

Russian Ministry: Escalation of attacks

During an inspection of the troops involved in the Ukraine war, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered an expansion of the attacks on the neighboring country. “After hearing (the situation report), the head of the Russian Defense Ministry gave the necessary instructions to expand the activities of the army groups in all directions of attack in order to deprive the Kiev regime of the possibility of further massive artillery and rocket attacks on infrastructure and civilians in the Donbass and in other regions,” said the ministry. This is Shoigu’s second inspection of Russian forces in Ukraine. The first took place at the end of June.

General staff in Kyiv: Russia is stepping up combat operations in the east of the country

According to Ukrainian information, the Russian armed forces, after regrouping their forces, stopped the attacks in the east of the country strengthened again. The General Staff in Kyiv said in its situation report that Ukraine had fended off Russian assault attempts in the direction of Bakhmut and in front of Donetsk in the past 24 hours. “After a regrouping, the enemy has resumed the attack on the Wuhlehirsk thermal power plant, and hostilities are continuing,” it said.

The information cannot be verified independently. However, military experts from the Institute for the Study of the War (ISW) have also observed that the Russian troops are ending the operational pause they had made after the capture of the Sievarodonetsk/Lysychansk conurbation. At the moment it is still a matter of minor skirmishes. “If the operational break is actually over, the Russians will probably continue and intensify their attacks in the next 72 hours,” says the ISW analysis.

Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for almost five months.