Officials in Ukraine reported damage and casualties after a rocket attack hit Kiev and the eastern city of Kharkiv early Saturday.
Air defense also “detected and destroyed more than 20 missiles in the airspace around Kiev,” said Sergiy Popko, head of the Kiev military administration.
The debris from the crashed drone sparked a fire in the Kiev skyscraper, injuring seven people.
“Fragments of a rocket hit a parking lot,” Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on social media, saying two people were injured in central Kiev’s Solomjanskyi district.
He added that rescue workers were stationed at the scene of the blast.
At least three Russian missiles were aimed at Kharkiv, with one hitting a gas pipeline and starting a fire, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
For more than an hour, the whole country was on air raid alert.
The Ukrainian Air Force had separately reported missiles heading for the northern regions of Sumy and Poltava and downtown Dnipro.
“Several houses were completely destroyed. Huge crater after the explosion,” said Borys Filatov, mayor of downtown Dnipro.
Ukraine uses German Gepard tanks to defend its airspace
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Here are some of the other developments related to Russia’s war in Ukraine on Saturday June 24:
Ukraine is positive about EU membership
Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his confidence in Ukraine’s prospects of joining the European Union in his evening address on Friday.
The Ukrainian President said there was clear support for Ukraine’s EU membership. “We are already perceived politically as a member of the EU,” he said.
Zelenskyy’s speech followed the London Ukraine reconstruction conference. Based on the results of the conference, he said the event could bring “good profits” to the country. About five hundred global companies are interested in investing in Ukraine, he added.
Hopes of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to become members of the European Union gained momentum this week as the union’s Europe ministers discussed their membership options at a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.
Speaking to the media in Stockholm, EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said Ukraine was “on track” with its progress and had “fulfilled two out of seven conditions” required for EU membership.
“Anti-terror” activities underway: Moscow mayor
Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said “anti-terrorist” measures were being taken in the Russian capital after the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced his plans to overthrow the country’s military leadership.
“In connection with the information received in Moscow, anti-terrorist measures are being taken to strengthen security,” Sergei Sobyanin said on social media.
The measures include additional checks on roads to increase security.
Prigozhin on Saturday said his 25,000-strong force was “ready to die” as he vowed to overthrow Russia’s military leadership.
“We are all ready to die. All 25,000 and then another 25,000,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a new audio message. “We are dying for the Russian people.”
Germany sends 45 Gepard tanks to Ukraine
Germany will deliver 45 more Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine by the end of the year, said Christian Freuding, head of the Ukraine Situation Center at the Defense Ministry.
So far Germany has delivered 34 tanks and 15 more tanks will be delivered according to Germany’s plan.
“In addition, we want to send another 30 Gepard tanks in cooperation with the USA towards the end of the year,” said Freuding.
The defense general sees air defense as a major weakness in the current strategy of the Ukrainian army.
“We do what we can. But does Ukraine still have adequate air defenses? Clear no!” said Freuding.
Freuding told the German Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag that in addition to the Gepard tanks, two Iris-T SLM air defense systems will also be sent to Ukraine.
Ukraine holds peace meeting in Denmark
Ukraine is organizing a peace meeting in Denmark on Saturday, which will be attended by several countries and will discuss the path to peace.
A Western official, who spoke to Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity, said the meeting aimed to discuss ways to achieve a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
High-ranking security officials from the US, the European Union and other countries have been invited to the meeting, which will take place in Copenhagen.
“We have been working very hard on a peace formula within the G7,” said a European diplomatic source, who also spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
“So the idea is to go beyond that and include key players like Brazil and India. To be honest, we expect and wish that China will be there.”
The British Financial Times reported on the meeting for the first time. According to FT’s report, Kyiv had insisted Washington should encourage participation by Brazil, India and South Africa, as well as China and Turkey – a NATO member that has good relations with Russia.
Three dead in Russian airstrike in Kiev
Ukrainian authorities reported three fatalities after Russia launched a fresh airstrike on Kiev on Saturday.
The missiles attacked at least five regions across the country, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
According to Klymenko, at least three people were killed and eight injured after a high-rise building in the capital was hit by a rocket.
“That’s the style of terrorists. The style of Russia,” he wrote on Telegram.
According to the Ukrainian military, the air defense systems destroyed 41 out of 51 cruise missiles, as well as two drones launched by Russia.
The head of Kiev’s military administration said more than 20 Russian missiles had been launched around the city.
Rescue workers searched the scene for people who may have been stuck in the rubble of the high-rise building.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said more people may have been trapped under the rubble.
mf/kb (AFP, Portal, dpa)