Ukraine announced on Wednesday (1) that Russia had bombed more than 100 locations in the past 24 hours, the highest number in just one attack this year. Since the offensive began in February 2022, Russian forces have fired millions of artillery shells into Ukrainian towns and villages near the battle fronts, leaving the east of the country in ruins.
“In the last 24 hours, the enemy bombed 118 locations in ten regions,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko wrote on social media. “This is the largest number of cities and towns attacked since the beginning of the year,” he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin had already announced that he would intensify the attacks. He even advocated simulating a massive nuclear attack.
A Russian attack on an oil refinery in Kremenchuk (in the center of the country) caused no deaths but required the presence of over 100 firefighters to bring the fire under control, according to Klimenko. Ukraine and its Western allies fear that Russia will increase attacks on facilities in the country’s energy sector ahead of the severe winter (Northern Hemisphere, summer in Brazil), as was the case last year.
According to local authorities, overnight bombings caused one death in the Kharkiv region (northeast) and another death in the Kherson region (south). A third person died and four were injured in a Russian drone attack in Nikopol in the south of the country.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down 18 of 20 Russian drones launched overnight. The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down two Ukrainian drones in the Bryansk and Kursk regions near the border. (AFP)