As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine shows no signs of abating, Moscow's latest attack on the Kherson and Donetsk areas claimed six lives in the last 24 hours, according to local officials.
According to Kherson governor Oleksander Prokudin, two people were killed and three injured after over 100 shells bombarded the region over the weekend. This was followed by a guided bomb attack on key infrastructure in Kherson city that sparked a partial blackout and disruption of water supply, said the chief of the city's military administration, Roman Mrochko.
Two more people were killed in Donetsk and a 57-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman died when a Russian airstrike struck their home in the Kharkiv region.
On the other hand, the Russian defence ministry announced Sunday that Ukraine had launched 27 drones in an overnight attack on western Russia. Out of these, 18 drones were shot down over the Kursk region, indicating that Ukraine targeted the Khalino military airfield nearby.
Kursk governor Roman Starovoit said debris had fallen in the region's namesake capital and the nearby village of Zorino. No casualties were reported. Officials also said that two more drones had been shot down over Russia's Belgorod region, but did not confirm the fate of the remaining seven drones.
Previous attacks
This comes over a week after Russia launched one of its deadliest attacks on Ukraine by targeting a village in the northeast of the country, killing 51 people. Presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak and Kharkiv Gov Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces shelled a shop and a cafe in the village of Hroza, in the Kharkiv region, around 1 pm.
The attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Granada in southern Spain to attend a summit of the European Political Community, which was formed in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia was responsible for the Hroza attack, insisting that Moscow does not target civilian facilities. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said that he was "shocked and saddened" by the attack.
Shortly afterward, a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother were killed in another Russian missile strike in Ukraine's Kharkiv city. Preliminary information indicated that two Iskander missiles were used in the attack, officials said. One of the missiles struck the street while the other hit a three-storey building, causing a blaze.
Ukraine's future vis-a-vis foreign support
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy is grappling with the signs that Western support for his country’s war effort could be fraying. This comes as concerns about the resupply of Ukraine’s armed forces have deepened amid political turmoil in the United States and other geopolitical factors.
Slovakia, which has remained a strong ally of Ukraine, recently witnessed a pro-Russian candidate Robert Fico win the parliamentary elections. He had promised to withdraw support for Ukraine. The Republican camp in the US has also opposed assistance to Ukraine.
(with AP inputs)
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