Ukraine hit by clinic strike, bombing in Russia

Ukraine was again targeted by Russian missiles on Friday, including a clinic hit in Dnipro where at least one person died, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky described as a “crime against humanity”. was condemned

Russia reported a fifth consecutive day of Ukrainian shelling on the Russian border region of Belgorod, which was already targeted during incursions by armed fighters from Ukraine earlier this week.

The Ukrainian President has published pictures in which we can see buildings badly damaged and with plumes of black smoke at the top. Other videos showed rescue workers helping bloodied people to escape the clinic through rubble-filled corridors.

“Another Russian missile attack, another crime against humanity”, condemned Mr Zelensky.

Governor Sergei Lysak said in a telegram that the wounded included two boys aged three and six. According to him, his territory was “massively attacked” during the night “with missiles and drones”.

Kiev municipality also reported overnight the 13th Russian air raid on the capital since early May, this time with cruise missiles launched by Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea region.

“According to preliminary information, all enemy targets in the Kiev airspace have been detected and destroyed,” he added.

Across the country, the Ukrainian General Staff reported 55 Russian airstrikes, including damage to a dam in the eastern region of Donetsk, which poses “a great risk of flooding” of the area.

– Nuclear weapons in Belarus? ,

Moscow, for its part, reported Ukrainian shelling of Russian border territory for the fifth day in a row.

According to governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Belgorod region has been subjected to dozens of artillery fire in the past 24 hours, causing material damage, but no casualties.

The shots specifically targeted the village of Kozinka in the Gravoron district, where armed fighters from Ukraine infiltrated earlier in the week and claimed groups of exiled Russians fighting Moscow’s army. According to the governor, 132 shells were fired at the village.

Belgorodsky District, which surrounds the regional capital Belgorod, was hit by 14 shots, including from a drone, one of which bombed an administrative building, damaging its roof and shattering windows.

Officials also reported an “explosion” that damaged a building in Krasnodar, a city near Crimea, a Ukrainian region annexed by Russia in 2014, without any casualties. The reason for this incident was not specified.

The intervention bombardment comes as Ukraine says it has been preparing a major retaliatory offensive intended to repel Russian troops for months, after receiving several deliveries of Western arms.

On Monday, two armed groups fighting for Ukraine and claiming to be Russian attacked the border region of Belgorod, the most serious such incursion since the start of the war.

While the Russian military claimed to have killed around 70 “Ukrainian terrorists” using artillery and aviation, two groups, whose figures are linked to the Russian far right, reported two dead and ten wounded in their ranks. .

Another source of tension, Belarus, an ally of Moscow, said on Thursday evening that Russia had begun deploying nuclear weapons on its territory, as announced by Vladimir Putin in March.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm the information on Friday, pointing out only that Belarus “is facing hostile, even hostile behaviour” from neighboring countries.

“That is why we must continue to develop and strengthen our relations with our partners (…) including in the military sector,” he added.