A day after UN Secretary General Guterres visited Kiev, the Russian military confirmed the attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow on Friday that high-precision, long-range missiles hit the factory buildings of Ukrainian missile maker Artem. He did not name the exact time of the Russian attacks.
According to Ukrainian sources, the attacks took place on Thursday night while Guterres was still in the city. A house was also hit. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Friday that a body had been recovered from the rubble. Ten people were also injured. Guterres told the British broadcaster BBC: “I was shocked to hear that two rockets exploded in the town where I am staying.”
According to information from Moscow, Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed 112 Ukrainian army objects in the last few hours, including four weapons and missile depots in the Mykolaiv region. The information could not be independently verified.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukrainian militants hiding at the Azovstal Power Plant in Mariupol lay down their weapons. Putin said this very clearly: “Civilians can go in any direction, the military must come out and lay down their weapons,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state news agency TASS. They have a lifetime warranty and medical care. But not anymore, they said.
Earlier, during a Russian attack on the last defenders of Mariupol, who were hiding in the steelworks of Azovstal, the field hospital installed there had been attacked by heavy fire. According to a report by “Ukrajinska Pravda”, at least one soldier was killed on Thursday night and about 100 patients suffered further injuries. According to defenders, the hospital, where about 500 wounded and doctors were, was specifically attacked. The information could not be independently verified.
According to Russian information, a border crossing point between Ukraine and Russia was attacked by the Ukrainian side. “At around 8 am (7 am CEST), the border crossing in the village of Krupez was targeted with grenade launchers,” the governor of Russia’s western Kursk region, Roman Starowoit, said on his Telegram channel on Friday. . So there were no damages or injuries. Russian border troops returned fire and stopped the bombing.
According to Ukrainian information, the Russian military temporarily suspended its ground attacks in eastern Ukraine on Friday night. “In the direction of Izyum (the enemy) did not take any active offensive action,” the Ukrainian staff said in its morning situation report. Russian forces therefore limited their activities to reconnaissance and artillery fire. The area around Izyum in the Kharkiv region has been a prime target for Russian troops in recent days. Ukrainian forces in the Donbass region were to be surrounded by the advance to the south.
According to British intelligence experts, gains from Russian territory in the Donbass region are limited in view of fierce Ukrainian resistance and are associated with high losses. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Defense in London on Friday.
The fighting for the cities of Lyssychansk and Sievjerodonetsk was particularly fierce, with an attempt to advance from Izyum southward towards Sloviansk.
The battle for the Donbass region remains Russia’s strategic focus to achieve the stated goal of gaining control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have captured two of their volunteers in Ukraine, according to a British aid organization. The Presidium Network organization announced that the two Britons were arrested on Monday at a checkpoint south of Zaporizhia. According to the organization, the two men, both civilians, were distributing food and medicine and helping with evacuations as part of a humanitarian aid project in Ukraine.
The British Foreign Office initially did not comment. “The Foreign Office is doing everything in its power to help and investigate the two individuals,” UK Commerce Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told Sky News.