Ukraine: at least six dead in Russian airstrikes

Russian airstrikes in southern Ukraine left at least six dead and 21 injured, including five children, on the night of Sunday to Monday. After these bombings, Ukraine issued this Monday alerts of air attack in much of its territory due to the takeoff of Russian bombers. With information from our correspondent in kyiv, Catalina Gómez Ángel.

Five people died in the Mykolaiv region and one in Zaporizhzhia, where a residential building was destroyed, local authorities reported on the Telegram messaging application.

Among the injured in Zaporizhzhia are five children between 4 and 17 years old. The press has not been able to independently verify this information. Russia has not commented so far.

The Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as much of the eastern half of Ukraine, were under air strike alerts for much of the night, according to data from the Ukrainian military.

In Mykolaiv, five people were killed and one was injured in a Russian drone attack, the region’s governor, Vitaly Kim, reported in his latest statement.

“Fires have broken out in residential buildings in the city and all emergency services are on the scene,” Kim said earlier on Telegram.

“The Russians have again attacked our city with drones. Residential buildings were damaged,” Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandre Senkevich previously stated on his Telegram account.

“The threat of kamikaze drones remains present until the area is completely cleared,” he added.

In the city of Zaporizhzhiafrequently attacked by Russian forces, the bombings caused one death and twenty injuries on the night from Sunday to Monday, according to authorities. In October, one person was killed and sixteen wounded in a series of nighttime bombings that hit Mykolaiv.

The city, located just over 50 km from the Dnieper River, which marks the front line between the Ukrainian and Russian armies in this area, had been relatively protected from attacks by Moscow since kyiv He retook the neighboring city of Kherson in November 2022.

From kyiv, our special envoy, Catalina Gómez Ángel, explains that this is “a new Russian military campaign to frighten and weaken the Ukrainian population who, after the thousand days of war that have ended this week, are obviously beginning to feel exhaustion, especially now that winter is coming, which means possible power outages.

“Ukrainian cities continue to be hit by Russian attacks, the population lives in constant fear of drones or the possibility of missile attacks.”

On the other hand, Russian troops are trying to advance in the region of Kursk, in western Russia, after Moscow sent tens of thousands of soldiers to the border area with Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, commander in chief of the Ukrainian army, declared on Monday.

Ukrainian troops raided the Russian border region of Kursk in August, taking control of several towns. This is the first deployment of this type on Russian territory since Moscow began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine issued air raid warnings across much of its territory on Monday as Russian bombers took off after overnight attacks that killed six people.

“Attention! Missile danger throughout Ukraine! Russian MiG-31K bombers taking off,” the Ukrainian air force posted on Telegram.

He also announced that eight Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers were heading towards Ukraine. The Tu-95 are long-range bombers that can carry cruise missiles.

The MiG-31 is an interceptor and attack aircraft that usually accompanies strategic bombers.