Ukraine says two killed in Russian attack on Kyiv region

The bodies of a 35-year old man and his son were found under rubble after fragments of missiles fell on a residential area in Kyiv’s suburban Brovary district, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Another three people in the district were also injured in the attack.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said it was the second time this month Kyiv was targeted.

Popko added ballistic missiles did not reach the capital but that suburbs took the hit, while drones aiming for the capital were shot down.

Kyiv’s air force also announced that Ukrainian forces have destroyed 53 out of 57 attack drones launched by Russia during an overnight air strike.

It added the drones were destroyed in various parts of Ukraine during the attack.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry announced 35 drones were shot down overnight over the Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk and Oryol regions.

“As a result of the fall of rocket debris on an apartment building in the regional centre, 15 people were injured. Everyone is receiving the necessary medical care,” Russia’s Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Smirnov has ordered local authorities to speed up the evacuation of civilians in at-risk areas.

On Saturday, TASS news agency reported that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated.

The Russian armed forces will retaliate against the regime in Kiev for its barbaric attacks on the western Russian regions, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

“We strongly condemn these barbaric terror acts…. We have no doubt that the organizers and perpetrators of these crimes as well as their foreign sponsors will be held accountable. A harsh response from the Russian armed forces will not take long,” she stated.

The spokeswoman added the missile and drone attacks launched by Ukraine at Russian regions in the past few days were aimed at destroying civilian infrastructure and killing civilians and were “clearly terrorist in nature”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has for the first time acknowledged that Ukrainian forces are fighting in a surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.

Moscow’s forces are now in their sixth day of intense battles against Kyiv’s largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war two and a half years ago. The incursion left southwestern parts of Russia vulnerable before reinforcements started arriving.

In a sign of the gravity of the situation, Russia imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday while Belarus, a staunch ally of Moscow, sent more troops to its border with Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of violating its air space.

In his nightly video address, Zelensky said he had discussed the operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyii as he promised to restore justice after Russia launched the full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour in February 2022.

“Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyii regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor’s territory,” he continued, adding, “Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor.”