KYIV – Ukraine said on Dec 20 that nine people, including four children, had been wounded by Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson, as drones targeted the capital Kyiv and the second-largest city Kharkiv.
“During the evening shelling of Kherson by the Russian occupiers, nine people were injured, four of them were children,” said Mr Roman Mrochko, head of Kherson, adding that the children were between two and 13 years old.
He said a mother and her three children had been hospitalised but were in a “moderate” condition.
Kherson was retaken by Ukrainian troops in November 2022 but the city remains within reach of Russian weaponry, and is regularly targeted.
On the same night, a Ukrainian Red Cross warehouse storing aid intended for residents of the Kherson region was destroyed.
The Ukrainian Red Cross said on social media that a fire – ignited by a direct artillery hit – had “wiped out” supplies.
It posted images showing the charred remains of the facility where a fire was still smouldering.
Moscow has stepped up its nightly attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, at a time when the West’s willingness to support the country seems to be waning.
The air force said a “total 19 Shahed (drone) launches were recorded, 18 of which were destroyed within the Odesa, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Chernigiv and Kirovograd regions”.
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Several Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defences as they headed towards Kyiv, according to the head of the capital’s military administration, Sergiy Popko.
“There were no victims or destruction in the capital,” he wrote on social media, adding that the attack, the fifth on Kyiv in December, was staged from the Black Sea.
In the north-east, Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov reported at least two strikes near residential buildings in his city.
The Ukraine air force said Kharkiv was hit with “two S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles” fired from Russia’s Belgorod region. No casualties were reported.
Ukraine has asked its allies to provide more air defence systems.
The Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Senate said on Dec 19 that Washington will not be able to approve new aid for Ukraine before the year’s end. AFP
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