(Kyiv) Several civilians were killed in strikes in Ukraine and Russia on Saturday, according to the respective authorities, hours before a crucial vote for Kyiv in the US Congress on US military aid, after more than two years of war.
This vote on aid of 61 billion dollars (57 billion euros) expected for several months by Kyiv is scheduled for today in the American House of Representatives.
If adopted, it would allow the Ukrainian army to catch its breath in this high-intensity conflict which has exhausted many of its fighters and damaged the morale of the troops.
PHOTO KEN CEDENO, REUTERS
The United States Capitol, Washington
“We are getting closer to an important agreement with the United States,” Volodymyr Zelensky confidently told journalists on Saturday.
The day before, the Ukrainian president had sounded the alarm to NATO member countries during a videoconference speech.
The Ukrainian army “can no longer wait” in the face of Russian pressure, he declared, demanding in particular at least seven additional Patriot anti-aircraft systems, as well as the acceleration of deliveries of military equipment of all kinds.
On the ground, Ukraine faces ammunition shortages and is unable to protect all of its cities and energy infrastructure, which are regularly targeted by the Russian army.
Kyiv has constantly requested munitions and anti-aircraft systems from its partners to counter these strikes, but political divisions in Washington have slowed deliveries.
On the European side, it is the limited production capacities which prevent at this stage from delivering in particular the shells promised to Kyiv.
Heap of ruins
On Saturday, attacks continued on the ground, as they have for nearly 800 days.
Ukraine said Russia struck residential buildings in the northeastern city of Vovchansk, a town about five kilometers from the Russian border, killing two people and injuring two.
“A woman and a man were injured. They are each 61 years old. In other places, two men aged 50 and 84 died after the bombing of the city,” the regional prosecutor’s office said.
The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, shared a photo showing a pile of ruins near a collapsed part of a multi-story residential block.
Russia fired at least seven missiles at Ukraine overnight, two of which were shot down by air defense, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
At the same time, a Ukrainian defense source told AFP that Kyiv had targeted eight Russian regions overnight in a “large-scale” drone attack targeting “the energy infrastructure that powers the Russian military-industrial complex.” “.
“At least three electrical substations and a fuel depot were hit and caught fire,” added this source, specifying that it was “a joint operation” of the Ukrainian security services (SBU), military intelligence services (GUR) and the armed forces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not mention this depot affected according to Kyiv, indicating however that it had intercepted 50 Ukrainian drones during the night, some of which were near Moscow.
Videos posted on social media showed a huge fire raging at a fuel depot in Russia’s western Smolensk region that the governor, Vasily Anokhin, said was caused by downed drones.
A pregnant woman killed
Ukraine has increased its attacks against Russia in recent weeks, targeting refineries in particular, with the aim of disrupting the logistics chain supplying Russian troops engaged on the front.
In the Russian region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported at the start of the day two deaths in Ukrainian drone attacks and then the death of a pregnant woman during subsequent bombings.
“Due to the launch of two explosive devices, a private residential building caught fire. Tragically, two civilians died,” the official wrote on Telegram.
He then claimed that Ukrainian bombings had caused the death of a pregnant woman in Novaya Tavoljanka, a village near the border with Ukraine.