Ukraine was again targeted Friday by salvoes of Russian missiles, including a clinic hit in Dnipro where at least one person was killed, a strike denounced by President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “crime against humanity”.
Russia reported for the fifth consecutive day of Ukrainian bombardments on the Russian border region of Belgorod, already targeted earlier this week during an incursion by armed fighters from Ukraine.
“Missile strike against a clinic in the city of Dnipro. One person was killed and fifteen others were injured,” said Volodymyr Zelensky, after a night marked by new Russian air attacks, particularly on kyiv.
The Ukrainian president has published images on which we can see buildings badly damaged and topped with plumes of black smoke. Other videos show rescuers helping people with blood on their faces escape the clinic through rubble-filled corridors.
“Another Russian missile attack, another crime against humanity”, denounced Mr. Zelensky.
Governor Sergei Lyssak reported on Telegram that two boys aged three and six were among the injured. According to him, his region was “massively attacked” during the night “with missiles and drones”.
The Municipality of Kyiv also reported during the night the 13e Russian air attack on the capital since early May, this time with cruise missiles launched by Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea region.
“According to preliminary information, all enemy targets in kyiv airspace have been detected and destroyed,” she added.
Across the country, the Ukrainian General Staff reported 55 Russian air attacks, including the damage of a dam in the eastern region of Donetsk, which poses “a great danger of flooding” of the area .
Nuclear weapons in Belarus?
Moscow, for its part, reported Ukrainian bombardments on a Russian border region, for the fifth consecutive day.
The Belgorod region has suffered dozens of artillery fires in the past 24 hours, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, which caused material damage but no casualties.
These shots notably targeted the village of Kozinka, in the district of Graivoron, where an incursion of armed fighters from Ukraine took place at the beginning of the week and claimed by groups of Russians exiled to fight the army of Moscow. The village was hit by 132 shells, according to the governor.
The Belgorodsky district, which surrounds the regional capital Belgorod, was hit by 14 shots, including from drones, one of which dropped a bomb on an administrative building, damaging its roof and shattering the windows.
The authorities also reported a “detonation” that caused damage to a building in Krasnodar, a city near Crimea, a Ukrainian region annexed in 2014 by Russia, without causing any casualties. The cause of this incident was not specified.
These interposed bombardments take place while Ukraine says it has been preparing for months a major counter-offensive intended to repel Russian troops, after having received multiple deliveries of Western weapons.
On Monday, two armed groups fighting for Ukraine and claiming to be Russian attacked the border region of Belgorod, the most serious incursion of this type since the start of the war.
If the Russian army claimed to have killed nearly 70 “Ukrainian terrorists” using artillery and aviation, the two groups, whose figures are linked to the Russian far right, reported two deaths and ten wounded in their ranks.
Another source of tension, Belarus, an ally of Moscow, said Thursday evening that Russia had begun to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory, in accordance with an announcement made in March by Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm this information on Friday, merely pointing out that Belarus “is facing unfriendly, even hostile attitudes from neighboring countries”.
“We must therefore continue to develop and strengthen our relations with our allies. […] including in the military field,” he added.