seven dead, including a newborn, in Russian strikes on the Kherson region

Seven people were killed, including a 23-day-old baby girl, following Russian strikes on Sunday August 13 in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Two men died in the village of Stanislav, and “a husband, a wife and their 23-day-old newborn were killed by enemy artillery fire” in the village of Chyroka Balka, wrote Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Their 12-year-old boy, seriously injured in the bombardment, died in the hospital where he had been transported.

“An entire family died in Chyroka Balka”lamented Mr. Klymenko, publishing photographs in which we can see a column of black smoke rising above a house.

A total of 13 people were also injured in the strikes on Kherson on Sunday, according to the minister.

At least 500 children killed since the start of the conflict

France condemned “with the greatest firmness” these bombardments “which once again illustrate Russia’s complete disregard for all principles of international humanitarian law, which it flagrantly and repeatedly violates”said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a press release.

According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, at least 500 children have been killed and nearly 1,100 injured since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Kherson is one of four regions of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed for annexation in September 2022. It remains partially under Ukrainian control but is regularly the target of Russian bombardment.

Sunday’s attack follows comments by Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, who was trying on Saturday to quell rumors that Ukrainian forces had landed on the occupied left (eastern) bank of the Dnieper in the oblast of Kherson. “Once again the hype of experts around the left bank in the Kherson region has begun. There’s no reason to get excited,” she said.

Death of a civilian after a Ukrainian bombardment

Also in the south of the country, the Ukrainian General Staff declared having won a “partial success” around the tactically important area of ​​Robotyne in Zaporizhia Oblast, a Russian stronghold that Ukraine must retake in order to continue its advance towards Melitopol. “There are liberated territories. The defense forces are working, said General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the southern forces of Ukraine, about this region, without specifying the reconquered areas.

On the other side of the front, Ukrainian bombardments caused the death of a civilian in the locality of Zaïtsevé, near Gorlivka, in the territories controlled by Moscow, announced its mayor, Ivan Prikhodko.

In Russia, the Ministry of Defense said that three Ukrainian drones were shot down on Sunday over the Belgorod region and another over Kursk, both bordering Ukraine. This type of attack occurs almost daily.