Kyiv was rocked by multiple explosions overnight after Russian warplanes fired missiles from the Caspian Sea, while Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West about the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine.
The Russian president said Moscow would attack new targets if the United States began supplying Ukraine with more powerful missiles, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
At least one person was taken to hospital after the exhibitions, but no deaths were reported until early Sunday, Vitali Klitschko said.
Ukrainian officials said Russia was targeting Kyiv’s railway infrastructure, but Moscow has said it destroyed T-72 tanks supplied to Ukraine from Eastern Europe.
In eastern Ukraine, where most fighting has focused in recent weeks, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said Russian forces had retreated to Severodonetsk.
Control of the controversial factory city was now “more or less halved,” he said.
Key developments:
Explosions were heard in Kyiv
Dark smoke rose into the sky as the sun rose in Kyiv on Sunday morning after Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts were hit by explosions, city mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.
“According to preliminary data, the (Russians) launched missiles from Tu-95 aircraft from the Caspian Sea,” the Ukrainian air force said in a statement.
The missiles were the first to hit the capital since late April, when a Radio Liberty producer was killed when a Russian missile struck the building where she lived.
Speaking in the Telegram, Klitschko said the blasts were heard in the Darnytsky and Dniprovsky districts.
“There are currently no casualties from missile attacks on the infrastructure,” he wrote.
“One injured person was hospitalized. Services are still working in the affected areas.”
Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the bombing was for Russia to resort to “new insidious attacks” and attacked French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement that Moscow should not be humiliated.
Image: A man looks at the smoke after explosions were heard in Kyiv
Fierce fighting continues in the Donbas region
Meanwhile, fighting continues in the southeastern areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, the focus of the Russian army since it withdrew from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces have counterattacked in the factory town of Severodonetsk and claim to have recaptured the territory from Russian troops.
Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk province, said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces controlled about half of the city after recovering a large part of Russian troops.
“It has been a difficult situation, the Russians control 70% of the city, but for the last two days they have been rejected,” he told Ukrainian television.
UK Ministry of Defense: Russia uses proxy troops in Severodonetsk to limit military losses
The British Defense Ministry (MoD) said the Ukrainian counterattack “probably reduced the operational momentum that Russian forces had previously gained by concentrating combat and firepower units.”
They added that Kremlin forces in the area include “poorly equipped and trained” separatist troops who do not have heavy equipment, probably as part of a desire to limit casualties suffered by the regular Russian army.
If Russia took Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, Luhansk province would be under Moscow’s control, and the entire Donbas region – including Luhansk and Donetsk – would be within its reach.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday night: “The situation is still very difficult in Severodonetsk, where there are street fights.”
Image: members of the foreign volunteer unit fighting in Ukraine in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region
“We must stop Russia”
Speaking at an international security forum last week, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said: “Russia continues to make efforts to occupy our entire state.
“It is currently impossible to predict when the war will end, but my optimistic predictions are that it will be possible this year.”
Reznikov warned that until the Russians are forced to leave Ukraine, other countries are also at risk, saying: “The next one will be Poland, the Baltic countries, Slovakia and others.
“That is why we must stop Russia and stop them in the future.”
His warning about Russia’s ambitions came after President Macron was criticized for saying Moscow should not be “humiliated” by its neighbor’s invasion.
In an interview with a regional newspaper, Macron said: “We must not humiliate Russia so that on the day the fighting ends we can build an exit ramp by diplomatic means.”
In response, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted: “Calls to prevent the humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France and all other countries that demand it.”
He added: “It’s better that we all focus on how to put Russia in its place.”
Read more: Children with toy guns at checkpoints as body hunters search for dead Russian soldiers
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0:35 ‘Victory will be ours’
Elsewhere this weekend, Russian bombings killed at least three civilians in the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said.
Russian bombing and arson contributed to the destruction of a 16th-century wooden Orthodox Christian monastery in eastern Ukraine, killing two monks and a nun.
And the number of civilian bodies that have been exhumed in the Kyiv region since Russia’s military withdrawal now stands at more than 1,300, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.