Foreign

Ukraine: Moscow’s Missiles Hit Security Building, Apartment in Dnipro

By Web News 372

At least nine people have been injured including two children after missiles hit two buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials say.

A BBC team on the ground confirmed the top floor of a large residential tower block was almost completely destroyed in the strike on Friday evening.

A building belonging to Ukraine’s security services (SBU) was also hit, President Volodymyr Zelensky says.

He blamed “Russian missile terror”.

Mr Zelensky posted a video on Telegram showing smoke rising from damaged buildings and a fire at street level.

He said he had convened emergency meetings with the SBU, interior ministry, emergency services and local officials following the incident.

Regional head Serhiy Lysak said that two children, aged 14 and 17, were among the injured. He added that they were being treated at home.

No deaths have been reported following the strike, which happened at 20:30 local time (17:30 GMT) according to Mr Lysak.

The latest strike was the third time the SBU building had been targeted by Russia, according to Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov.

Both buildings were largely empty, he said, adding that the residential building had recently been completed and units were being put up for sale.

BBC / Titilayo Kupoliyi

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Foreign

Kamikaze Drones Kill in Kyiv

By Web News 438

Russia has hit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with a wave of Iranian-made kamikaze drones – killing at least one person, says Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

“It shows their desperation,” said Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s staff, and in the port city of Mykolaiv, sunflower oil tanks were set on fire by similar drones, said the city’s mayor.

According to a report, a week ago, the capital was hit by Russian missiles at rush hour, part of nationwide attacks which left 19 dead.

A Ukrainian air force official said all the drones had flown into the country from the south, as Oleksandr Senkevich said three drones ignited the tanks at Mykolaiv late on Sunday evening, hours before the attack in Kyiv.

Monday morning’s attacks in Kyiv were from drones – the low buzzing of these slow-moving weapons is becoming familiar across the country.

The city reverberated to the rattle of gunfire as anti-aircraft batteries frantically tried to shoot them down.

The explosions on Monday began at about 06:30 local time. The most recent was at about 08:10 local time, two were close to the city centre, with sirens and car alarms heard across the area.

“The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us,” said President Zelensky, describing the attacks as “terrorising the civilian population”.

What is being targeted is hard to determine. The mayor’s office says residential and non-residential buildings have been hit. Railway officials say explosions were seen close to Kyiv’s main station.

The newsmen saw fragments of a drone used in the attack that bore the words, “For Belgorod”, the Kremlin had accused Ukraine of launching missile attacks on the Russian border city of Belgorod, but, Ukraine had denied this.

Two gunmen – who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine – killed 11 people on Saturday at a Russian military training camp in the Belgorod region.

Recent attacks in Ukraine have targeted the country’s energy infrastructure.

Writing on the Telegram social media site, Mr Klitschko said, there were four strikes in Kyiv, although residents heard five or six explosions. He also told people to stay in air raid shelters.

But despite the warnings, the streets are far from deserted. Between the first and second set of strikes, plenty of people seemed to be going about their Monday morning business.

Mr Yermak described the kamikaze attacks as Russia’s “death throes” and said Ukraine needed more air defence systems “as soon as possible”.

BBC/Taiwo Akinola

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Foreign

Ukrainian City Flooded After Missiles Hit Dam

By Web News 527

Ukrainian officials say as many as eight Russian missiles hit the dam on Wednesday.

Officials say Russian missiles have hit a reservoir dam near the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.

City head, Oleksandr Vilkul said residents in some areas were told to evacuate but added the situation was under control.

Ukraine said the strike was revenge by Russia for its recent counter-attack.

President Volodymyr Zelensky – who was born in the city – described Russia as a “terrorist state” after the attack on the Karachunivske reservoir.

“You are weaklings who fight civilians,” Mr Zelensky said in his late-night address on Wednesday.

“Scoundrels who, having escaped from the battlefield, are trying to do harm from somewhere far away.”

This was an apparent reference to Ukraine’s recent military successes in a swift counter-offensive in the country’s north-eastern Kharkiv region.

It has seen Ukraine’s army reclaim swathes of occupied territory, forcing Russian troops to retreat.

In his speech, Mr Zelensky said the reservoir had “no military value at all”.

However, Russia has not publicly commented on the reported missile strikes but has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.

BBC/Maxwell Oyekunle

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