The industrial city in Ukraine has once again become the target of Russian missiles. A nine-story residential building was destroyed by an impact. An overview of the events.
At least one person was killed when a Russian missile hit a high-rise building in the Ukrainian industrial city of Dnipro. Nine others were injured. Among them was a seven-month-old baby, the military governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, announced on his Telegram channel on Friday evening. Three of the injured, two women aged 27 and 30 and a 29-year-old man, are in critical condition. Two more people are believed to be under the rubble.
Pictures show a badly damaged staircase of a nine-story building in a densely built-up residential area. The top four floors are completely destroyed. Dnipro has been hit by rockets several times since the start of the Russian war of aggression. In one of the most devastating attacks on civilian objects during the war, 45 people were killed and around 80 injured when a residential building in the city was hit in early 2023.
In light of the latest missile attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again called for the strengthening of air defenses. Only the determination of the world can put a stop to Russian terror, he wrote on social media.
There were air raid warnings in various parts of Ukraine during the night. Russia had sent drones towards Ukrainian territory, the air force in Kiev reported. Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for more than two years.
Governor: Five dead after drone attack in Russia
According to authorities, five people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian region of Kursk on the border with Ukraine. Two small children were among the dead, said the governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov. According to the report, the missile hit a house in the village of Gorodishche. Two seriously injured people were taken to hospital. The Kursk region, like the other border regions of Bryansk, Belgorod and Rostov, is repeatedly attacked by the Ukrainian side.
In its defensive struggle, Ukraine repeatedly attacks Russian territory. According to Ukrainian sources, the attacks are directed against Russian military positions. But civilian objects are also repeatedly hit – for example when debris from downed drones falls to the ground. The consequences on the Russian side are disproportionate to the high number of victims and the massive destruction caused by the Russian attacks on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, according to information from Kiev, ten Ukrainian civilians have returned home from Russian captivity. Among those released is Nariman Dzheljal, a leader of the Crimean Tatars, President Zelenskyj wrote on social networks. He thanked the Vatican for its mediation in the release of the civilians.
Dzheljal was arrested in 2021, before the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Crimea, which had been annexed by Russia since 2014, and was later sentenced to 17 years in prison. He is alleged to have blown up a gas pipeline. According to Zelensky, several other prisoners were also imprisoned in Russia or Belarus before the war. Among the prisoners were also two priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
The border troops of the authoritarian ex-Soviet republic of Belarus (formerly Belarus) say they have set up additional units on the border with Ukraine. Multiple rocket launchers with a range of 300 kilometers have been positioned there, a spokesman for the border troops told the state news agency Belta in Minsk. The measure was justified by alleged espionage and sabotage preparations on the part of Ukraine.
Belarus is Russia’s closest ally. Ruler Alexander Lukashenko is heavily dependent on the Kremlin economically, financially, politically and militarily. Although Minsk is not officially involved in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, at the start of the war Russian troops also used Belarusian territory for their advance into Ukraine.
After a record arms export last year, export licenses rose again significantly in the first half of 2024 due to a continued increase in arms deliveries to Ukraine. From January 1 to June 18, the federal government permitted the delivery of military goods worth at least 7.48 billion euros abroad. Compared to the entire first half of 2023, this represents an increase of a good 30 percent.
Almost two thirds of exports (65 percent or 4.88 billion euros) are destined for Ukraine, which is supported by Germany in its defensive struggle against Russia. This is according to a response from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a query from Bundestag member Sevim Dagdelen from the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which was made available to the German Press Agency.
