Russia launches first drone strike on Kyiv in 12 days

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After a relative lull, Russia launched a drone attack early Sunday on Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, officials said. It was the first such attack in the war in 12 days.

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All of the Iranian-made Shahed explosive-laden drones were detected and shot down, according to Serhiy Popko, head of the Kiev city administration. In addition to the city itself, the surrounding Kiev region was also targeted. Kyiv Regional Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported that one person was injured by falling debris from a destroyed drone.

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Officials in the Ukrainian capital did not provide an exact number of drones that attacked the city. But the Ukrainian Air Force said the Russians fired eight Shahed missiles and three Kalibr missiles across the country.

To the south, a 13-year-old boy was wounded in nighttime shelling of Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Kherson province, said Oleksandr Tolkonnikov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian administration for the province.

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Tolkonnikov said that the child was wounded when the Russian army bombed the village of Milov, located on the banks of the Dnieper River in the Preslav region.

“The child was admitted to the hospital. There is no threat to his life,” Tolkonikov said on state television.

Shelling of Kherson province continued Sunday morning, injuring four people in the provincial capital, also called Kherson. The regional prosecutor’s office said a residential area of ​​the city was targeted by Russian forces operating in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Province. “

“At least four citizens were injured, two of them due to targeting a high-rise building,” the office wrote on Telegram.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military reported that the heaviest fighting continued in Ukraine’s industrial east, with attacks centered around Bakhmut, Marinka and Lyman in the country’s Donetsk province, where 46 combat engagements took place.

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In its periodic update on Sunday morning, the General Staff said that during the past 24 hours Russia carried out 27 air strikes, one missile strike and about 80 attacks from multiple missile launchers, targeting areas in the north, northeast, east and south. nation.

In Russia, local officials reported that air defense systems shot down a drone over the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, while the neighboring Kursk region was hit by bombing attacks. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

In the wake of the tragedy of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion last week, the Russian authorities have remained defiant. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has emerged from this situation “having further strengthened his position both in the country and in the world.”

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Russian society, he said, “having passed this test, has shown its maturity.” According to Volodin, “there was not a single example of a person supporting the rebellion.”

But General Sergei Surovkin, deputy commander of the group of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, is believed to have been arrested days after the mutiny. It is not clear if Surovikin, who has long links to Prigozhin, faces any charges or where he is being held, reflecting the murky world of Kremlin politics and post-revolution uncertainty.

Volodin wrote on Telegram that the Russian president “did everything to prevent bloodshed and turmoil,” including explaining to the Wagner fighters “the real state of affairs.” He (Putin) suggested that those who want to defend Russia continue to serve them with arms in hand. As far as I know, many of them agreed with this, – said Volodin.

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In addition, the State Duma spokesman said that he analyzed the “challenges” that Russia faced in the past, stressing that if “someone like Putin” had led the country in 1917 and 1991, there would be no revolution in Russia, and the Soviet Union would not collapse.

But independent observers and analysts say Putin may appear politically weak after first declaring that Wagner would face harsh repercussions, only to say later that the group’s forces would not face trial. Prigozhin was also allowed to leave Russia for Belarus.

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Follow AP coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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