Russia Serang, Kherson City, With Dozens Of Missiles, Settlement Of Settlement And Civil Infrastructure
JAKARTA - Russian troops stepped up mortar and artillery attacks in the recently released city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said, while also putting pressure along the frontline to the east.
Russia fired 33 missiles from multiple rocket launchers at civilian targets in Kherson in the early hours of 24 hours to early Wednesday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said in its morning report.
It said Russia had opened fire on more than 25 settlements around Kherson and Zaporizhia, causing civilian casualties and damaging civilian infrastructure in the city and territory of Kherson. A number of Russian troops reportedly left their posts around Zaporizhzhia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his evening video address, urged Ukrainians to hug loved ones, tell friends they appreciate them, support colleagues, thank their parents and love their children more often.
"We haven't lost our humanity, even though we have had terrible months. And we will not lose it, even though there have been difficult years ahead," President Zelensky said.
The Russian side denied that the attack targeted the target of civilians.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, vice chief of staff of President Zelensky wrote on Telegram, "Russian troops opened fire on a hospital maternity poly in Kherson. No one was injured and staff and patients have been transferred to shelters."
TV footage shows workers replacing broken windows with board sheets in the middle of broken brick walls. Photos of babies hanging in empty rooms and beds and hospital equipment standing empty and unused.
Heavy fighting also took place around the Ukrainian-controlled city of Bakhmut, now largely destroyed, in the eastern province of Donetsk, and to its north, around Pota Svatove and Kreminna, Lugansk Province, where Ukrainian forces tried to break Russia's defenses.
In a Wednesday report, Ukraine's General Staff also reported further Russian shootings in the Zaporizhzhia region and in Sumy and Kharkiv regions in northeastern Ukraine.
Britain's defense ministry said in its updates to Ukraine that Russia may have strengthened the Kremlin at the forefront as logistically important to Moscow and has become relatively vulnerable following Ukraine's progress further to the west.
It is known that Russian troops left the city of Kherson last month in one of Ukraine's most significant victories in the war. The Kherson region, in the strong mouth of the Dnipro River, serves as the gateway to Russia's annexed Crimea.
Kherson's occupation of the city's release quickly turned into fear amid the relentless shooting of Russia from the eastern edge of Dnipro, and many have fled.
Last Saturday, Russian attacks in the city of Kherson killed at least 10 people, injured 58 people and left bodies covered in blood on the street, authorities said, in what Kyiv condemned as reckless killings for pleasure.