Russia has attacked several regions of Ukraine for the second day in a row this morning, killing at least two people in the city of Krivi Rig and one in Zaporizhzhia. The death toll from Russia’s massive attack in Ukraine on Tuesday has risen to seven, with water and electricity infrastructure severely damaged. The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said 47 people were injured, including four children. Rescue workers were called in to put out 22 fires caused by the attacks. Some 15 regions of Ukraine were hit, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said, adding that weapons such as drones, cruise missiles and supersonic missiles were used. The victims included two men, aged 69 and 47, killed in separate attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to local governor Sergiy Lysak; a man who lost his life when his home was hit in Zaporizhia, the local governor said; one person killed in an attack on infrastructure in Lutsk, according to the city’s mayor; a man killed in a missile attack in Izyum, Kharkiv region; and a woman who died in a missile strike in the Zhytomyr region of western Ukraine.
The Kiev Air Force reports that there were reports of explosions in the Khmelnytskyi region this morning, while in the Zaporizhiaiev district drones flew over the regions of Kherson, Kirovohrad, Sumy, Poltava, Chernihiv and Zhytomyr. Ukrainian authorities said that Russia conducted this new assault using Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones and various types of missiles. Russian forces launched a total of 127 missiles and 109 drones at Ukraine, most of which were neutralized by Ukrainian air defenses. However, some missiles and drones were not shot down and hit electricity and gas infrastructure in several regions, forcing Ukrainian authorities to restore emergency blackouts. This attack, which mainly targeted Ukraine’s energy system, also caused the death of at least four civilians in various regions of the country. A Russian attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih, located in the Dnipropetrovsk region of eastern Ukraine, has left two dead, four wounded and five missing, the Kiev Independent reports. According to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s military administration, a missile hit a hotel.
The injured were taken to hospital for treatment. “The rescue operation is underway. All emergency, municipal and medical services are working,” Yevhen Sytnychenko, head of the district military administration, wrote on Telegram. US President Joe Biden strongly condemned “Russia’s war against Ukraine and its attempts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness. I want to be clear: Russia will never succeed in Ukraine and the spirit of the Ukrainian people will never be broken. The United States will continue to lead a coalition of more than 50 countries in support of Ukraine,” he promised. At the time of writing, the Kiev Air Force reported that “Russian bombers and drones are flying towards Ukraine.” These are several Tu-95MS bombers, which took off from the Engels air base in southwestern Russia. In addition, the Ukrainian Air Force warned on Telegram that “missiles may enter Ukrainian airspace in about two hours.” According to the Tass agency, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian Armed Forces prevented the landing of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group on the Kinburn Spit, located along the sea coast of the Dnieper estuary in the Kherson region, overnight. Finally, today Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will travel to the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia. The visit is an important step to ensure nuclear safety in the region, especially in light of the recent Ukrainian counteroffensive. Grossi’s decision to personally travel to the site underscores the importance of an independent assessment of the situation, in a context of growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The IAEA has long maintained a constant focus on the safety of nuclear power plants in conflict zones, with a particular focus on Zaporizhzhia, one of the largest nuclear power plants in Europe, located in southern Ukraine. As hostilities in the Kursk region intensify, concern now extends to this area, where the possibility of an attack could have devastating consequences.
Moscow has expressed significant concerns about the risks of a nuclear catastrophe in the event of a Ukrainian attack, given the proximity of the plant to the border with Ukraine. The IAEA presence, therefore, plays a crucial role in monitoring the situation and trying to prevent any accident that could have large-scale repercussions. This visit reflects the IAEA’s commitment to ensuring that nuclear operations remain safe and under control, even in wartime environments, and is a key step in avoiding the risk of nuclear accidents in an already increasingly volatile and risky area.
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