According to the regional governor of Kyiv, Oleksiy Kuleba, a locality in the Vyshgorod region – 20 kilometers from the center of Kyiv – was the target of an attack this morning, which hit “infrastructure”, but it is still unknown, if any. Victims killed.
Kuleba attributed the attacks to State Day, which Ukraine celebrates today for the first time.
The governor told Ukrainian television that “Russia, with the help of missiles, is taking revenge on the huge popular resistance that the Ukrainians were able to organize precisely because of the creation of their state.”
“Ukraine has already spoiled Russia’s plans and will continue to defend itself,” he added.
The governor of Chernihiv, Vyacheslav Chaus, in turn, stated that several missiles had hit the village of Honcharevska, having been launched from Belarus.
Russian forces withdrew from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions months ago after failing to capture both.
The resurgence of attacks on these areas comes a day after the leader of the pro-Kremlin separatists in the east, Denis Pushlin, publicly called on Russian forces to “liberate the Russian cities founded by the Russian people in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Poltava, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Lutsk.”
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, was the target of bombing at night, Mayor Ihor Terekov said this morning.
The southern city of Mykolaiv was also targeted, where a person was injured.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army is continuing its counterattack in the occupied southern Kherson region, after hitting major bridges over the Dnieper River on Wednesday.
Today the Ukrainian press quoted the Ukrainian presidential adviser, Oleksiy Aristovich, as saying that the operation to liberate Kherson “has already begun.”
According to Aristovich, the Kyiv forces want to isolate the Russian forces on the ground and leave them with three options: “retreat if possible, surrender or destroy.”
On Wednesday, in statements to national television, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said that he wants to “cautiously” assess the timetable for the counterattack.
“I would very much like things to go faster,” he admitted, adding, however, that “the enemy is now focusing as many forces as possible specifically in the direction of Kherson.”
“A large-scale movement of Russian troops has begun, and they are gathering additional forces,” warned Danilov.
The British army also said today that Ukraine’s counter-offensive in Kherson was “gaining momentum”.
“His forces may have erected a bridge south of the Ingolets River, which shares the northern border with Russian-occupied Kherson,” the British Ministry of Defense said, adding that Ukraine used its new long-range artillery to damage at least three bridges. On the Dnieper River, “on which Russia was dependent to supply the areas under its control”.
Ukraine’s presidential office said this morning that the Russian bombing of cities and towns in the past 24 hours has killed at least five civilians, all from eastern Donetsk, and injured nine others.
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