Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – Russian forces launched massive missile strikes Thursday in Ukraine’s Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, areas that have not been targeted for weeks, as Ukrainian officials announced an operation to free a occupied region in the south of the country.
Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba told Telegram that a settlement in the region’s Vyshgorod district was targeted Thursday morning; an “infrastructure object” was affected. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties.
Vyshgorod is located 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) north of central Kyiv. Kuleba linked the strikes to State Day, which Ukraine celebrated on Thursday for the first time.
“Russia, with the help of missiles, is increasing the revenge of the widespread popular resistance, which the Ukrainians were able to organize precisely because of their statehood,” Kuleba said on Ukrainian television. “Ukraine has already foiled Russia’s plans and will continue to defend itself.”
Chernihiv Governor Vyacheslav Chaus reported that multiple missiles were fired from the territory of Belarus at the village of Honcharivska.
Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions months ago after failing to capture either. The new strikes in the zones come a day after the leader of pro-Kremlin separatists in the east, Denis Pushilin, publicly called on Russian forces to “liberate the Russian cities founded by the Russian people: Kyiv, Chernihiv, Poltava, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk. , Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk”.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, also came under shelling overnight, its mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Shots were also fired at the southern city of Mykolaiv, injuring one person.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military continued to counterattack in the occupied southern Kherson region, striking a key bridge over the Dnieper River on Wednesday.
Ukrainian media quoted Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich as saying on Thursday that the operation to free Kherson “has already begun.” Arestovich said Kyiv’s forces planned to isolate Russian troops there and leave them with three options: “withdraw, if possible, surrender or be destroyed.”
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said in televised remarks Wednesday that he was “cautious” in assessing the timing of a possible counteroffensive. “I would really like it to be much faster,” he said, adding that “the enemy is now concentrating the maximum number (of forces) precisely in the direction of Kherson.”
“He has started a large-scale movement of his troops, they are gathering additional forces,” Danilov warned.
The British military estimated on Thursday that Ukraine’s counter-offensive in Kherson is “gaining momentum”.
“It is highly likely that their forces have established a bridgehead south of the Ingulets River, which forms the northern boundary of Russian-occupied Kherson,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.
He added that Ukraine has used its new long-range artillery to damage at least three of the bridges over the Dnieper River, “which Russia depends on to supply the areas under its control.” The 1,000-metre-long Antonivsky Bridge, which Ukrainian forces struck on Wednesday, is likely to be “unusable”, Britain’s Ministry of Defense concluded.
Ukraine’s presidential office said Thursday morning that Russian shelling of cities and towns over the past 24 hours killed at least five civilians, all in the eastern Donetsk region, and wounded nine others.
The fighting in recent weeks has been centered in the Donetsk region. It has intensified in recent days as Russian forces appeared to emerge from a reported “operational pause” after capturing the neighboring Luhansk region.
A missile hit a residential building in Toretsk early Thursday morning, destroying two floors. “Once again the terror of missiles. We will not surrender… We will not be intimidated,” Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War believe Russian forces are focusing their efforts on capturing the towns of Bakhmut and Siversk in Donetsk province.
“Russian forces have committed sufficient resources to conduct near-daily ground attacks and seize territory on these two axes, but have not been able to sustain a similar offensive operational tempo or make similar territorial gains elsewhere. of Ukraine,” the Institute said.
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