KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile struck the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, local officials said, as Kryvyi Rih observed an official day of mourning. The previous day’s attack It killed four civilians in a hotel.
The latest attack on the city hit civilian infrastructure, injuring eight people, local administration chief Oleksandr Vilkul said on social media.
Tuesday’s attack, which injured five people, was the second day in a row that Russia had launched a barrage of dozens of missiles and drones across Ukraine.
“When Krivi Rih is in mourning, the enemy strikes again. And it’s targeting civilians again,” regional head Serhii Lizak said on Wednesday.
Russia stepped up its air strikes on Ukraine on Monday, launching more than 100 missiles and the same number of drones. Biggest attack in weeks.
The intensified campaign was to prove a decisive period WarRussia launched on February 24, 2022.
Russian forces are pushing deep into Ukraine’s partially occupied eastern Donetsk region, whose total capture is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Army of Russia Closes in PokrovskAn important logistical hub for Ukrainian defense in the region.
At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces Kursk region of Russia The largest incursion into Russian soil in recent weeks since World War II. The move is part of an effort to force Russia to withdraw troops from the Donetsk front.
At the hotel in Kryvyi Rih, rescue workers found a final body under the rubble on Wednesday. The rescue operation was then completed.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said its anti-aircraft defenses had destroyed a Russian Su-25 jet in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine continued its long-range drone strikes in Russia’s rear logistics areas.
An official with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known by its acronym GUR, told The Associated Press that the agency attacked oil depots in Russia’s Rostov and Kirov regions on Wednesday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the strikes, did not provide additional details. It was Ukraine’s first attack on the Kirov region, about 950 kilometers (600 miles) northeast of the Ukrainian border.
The governor of Kirov, Alexander Sokolov, said three Ukrainian drones fell near an oil depot in the region, but did not damage it.
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