Two individuals lost their lives in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson after being targeted by a Russian drone attack, as disclosed by local authorities on Saturday. This incident is part of a series of assaults on civilian areas, a characteristic feature of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Regional head Oleksandr Prokudin reported that seven other individuals sustained injuries in the same attack. Subsequently, another minibus in Kherson was targeted by Russia, resulting in the injury of the driver.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine highlighted “rather unusual” activities observed along the northern border with Belarus on Friday. Zelenskyy, in a post on the Telegram messaging service, indicated that Belarus was displaying activity on its side of the border. He emphasized that Ukraine was monitoring the situation closely and would respond accordingly if the situation escalated.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has permitted Moscow to utilize its territory as a launching pad for sending troops into Ukraine and hosting some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.
In a separate incident on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, a Russian strike caused damage to port infrastructure in Odesa, although there were no reported casualties.
The relentless air assaults on Ukrainian civilians have persisted since Russia initiated a full-scale invasion more than four years ago. Despite U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv over the past year, Russia has rejected Ukraine’s ceasefire proposal. Additionally, international focus has shifted away from Ukraine’s crisis due to the conflict in Iran.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed on Saturday to have seized control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region along the approximately 1,250-kilometre front line.
In Russia’s Krasnodar region, local officials announced that a fire resulting from a Ukrainian strike on an oil terminal in the Black Sea town of Tuapse was extinguished on Saturday. Ukrainian drones have targeted the oil refinery and export terminal in Tuapse four times in slightly over two weeks, leading to fires that necessitated local evacuations and produced significant smoke clouds.
Ukraine has intensified its long-range strikes on Russian oil facilities in an attempt to reduce Moscow’s oil exports, a critical revenue source for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. However, the economic repercussions remain uncertain, as the surge in oil prices due to the Iran conflict and the consequent relaxation of U.S. sanctions have contributed to replenishing the Kremlin’s finances.