NewzThe attacks come as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy returns from the United States, where he said President Donald Trump agreed to give Ukraine licences for Patriot missiles. Russian air strikes killed at least 13 in Ukraine on Thursday, including one in Kyiv, in attacks extending as far as the western city of Lviv, forcing neighbouring Poland to scramble fighter jets to secure its airspace. The attacks come as President Volodymyr Zelensky returns from the United States, where he said President Donald Trump agreed to give Ukraine licences for Patriot missiles.
Air raid alerts sounded across most regions of Ukraine, with a Reuters witness saying explosions were heard... Removal of Soviet-era statues sped up when Russia seized Crimea in 2014, and since Putin’s 2022 invasion has moved at pace as Ukrainians question their identitySince 2013 the plinth at the bottom of Taras Shevchenko Boulevard in Kyiv has been eerily empty. The scruffy monument is daubed in white paint and graffiti.
Someone has stuck a Ukrainian trident where Lenin once stood, gazing down during the years of Soviet communism. A crowd toppled the sculpture during Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, which ousted the pro-Russian government, and smashed it with sledgehammers.In June, Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed putting a new figure on the plinth: Ivan Mazepa, a Cossack military and political leader, who broke with Moscow and fought for Ukraine’s independence. “I am certain that where Lenin fell, Mazepa will stand firm,” Zelenskyy said.
He spoke next to a bust of Mazepa in the Pechersk Lavra, an ancient Kyiv monastery hit by Russian missiles. Six dead in Kryvi Rih including two children and fires in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, after wave of ballistic missile launchesA Russian missile strike killed at least six people in central Ukraine, including two girls, the head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration said, while at least one person died in Kyiv, after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, warned the country hours in advance of Moscow launching another massive attack.“In a village on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, a direct strike by an Iskander-M ballistic missile, launched from Voronezh, hit a private house where a large family lived, killing girls aged five and 12 and four adults,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, adding that a further eight people were wounded and that the death toll may rise. Smoke rises above the city after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv.
(EPA Images pic)KYIV: Russian ballistic missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv killed at least one person early on Thursday, officials said, while neighbouring Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace.Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv, according to a Reuters witness. A few non-residential sites caught fire, mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post, as most regions of Ukraine issued air raid alerts.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier warned that a massive Russian attack was likely.Zelensky said the safety of Ukrainians depended on the willingness of allies to provide anti-missile defences, as he returned from the US, where he said President Donald Trump agreed to give Ukraine licences for Patriot missiles."It is important that our partners fully understand what is happening and that the protection of people's lives depends directly on their willingness, or lack of willingness, to provide air defence missiles," Zelensky wrote on Telegram.Poland, a member of the EU and Nato which shares a border with Ukraine, protectively scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace amid Russian air strikes, the Armed Forces said on X."Fighter aircraft and an early warning aircraft have begun operations, while ground-based air defence systems and radar reconnaissance systems have reached a state of readiness," the post said, adding that the actions are of a preventive nature. At least one person was killed in a Russian air strike on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned that Russia had "prepared a massive attack," citing air force reports.
Summary from source