In a new phase of the war between Ukraine and Russia, long-range drone and missile strikes have intensified, leading to numerous civilian casualties. Ukrainian officials reported that Russian artillery and aerial attacks across the country killed at least nine people, including a child. In the southern city of Kherson, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin stated that Russian shelling killed four people, which he described as "hell."
In the frontline city of Nikopol, a Russian drone attacked a passenger bus, killing four people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the incident as part of "the Russians' deliberate terror against people in Nikopol and other cities near the front." The city, once home to around 100,000 people, has been devastated since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Dnipropetrovsk region Governor Oleksandr Ganzha reported a separate drone attack on another bus, which left five people injured.
Russian drone attacks on civilian vehicles, including public transport, have become increasingly frequent recently. Overnight, a separate Russian drone strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region killed an 11-year-old boy and wounded five others. Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone strikes on the Russian mainland and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine killed five civilians, including a 12-year-old boy and his parents in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.
In part of Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region, drones struck a school in the village of Velikaya Znamenka, killing a local official who was attempting to help children escape. According to Moscow-backed governor Yevgeny Balitsky, six people were injured in the attack, including five children. In Russian-controlled Kherson, a Ukrainian drone strike killed a woman in her fifties, as stated by Moscow-backed governor Vladimir Saldo.
The Ukrainian military announced on Tuesday that it had struck Russia's Ust-Luga oil terminal. Kyiv has intensified strikes on Russia's oil infrastructure, raising alarms that the energy crisis triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran could revive Moscow's fuel industry after years of sanctions. This new phase of the war, particularly with children among the casualties, highlights the challenges of limited peace prospects and expanding economic repercussions.
Source: www.dw.com