A civilian was killed and four others were injured in a Ukrainian bombardment that hit the Russian village of Gorkovsky, near the border between Russia and Ukraine, the governor of the Belgorod region announced on Wednesday. “Gorkovsky was the target of shelling by Ukrainian forces. Five shells exploded in the center of the village, near the school,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram messaging, adding that a man died after receiving shrapnel. of shells. Three men who received shrapnel and a woman who suffered a concussion were also hospitalized, he added.
Bombings of Russian villages near the border were very rare for more than a year after the launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, but they have been increasing for several months, particularly in the regions of Belgorod and from Kursk. Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula are also the targets of a growing number of drone attacks that Moscow blames on Ukrainian forces. Some even reached the Russian capital, more than 500 km from the border with Ukraine.
The main information:
– One dead and four injured in the bombardment of a Russian village bordering Ukraine
– Russia shoots down two Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow
– Two dead and seven injured in a Russian strike on Zaporizhya
– Seven dead Tuesday in a Russian bombardment in Pokrovsk
– Russia will respond “adequately” to Western threats on its borders
Two dead, seven injured in Russian strike on Zaporizhia
Two people were killed and seven injured on Wednesday in a Russian strike on Zaporizhia, a large city in southern Ukraine, the Interior Ministry said, revising the previous toll after the resuscitation of a person downwards. “Zaporizhia: two people were killed and seven injured. Initially, the information reported three dead. Fortunately, one person was revived,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram.
The previous death toll of three was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who released a video showing a damaged church, with flames and smoke in its courtyard, as well as another building on fire. Igor Klymenko said that “the rescuers quickly extinguished the fire” and that the injured people were outside at the time of the strike.
Russia shoots down two Ukrainian drones in the direction of Moscow
Russia announced on Wednesday that it had shot down two Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow, a type of attack that has multiplied in recent weeks, while promising an “adequate response” to Western support in Kiev. An explosion at a factory in the Russian town of Sergiev Posad near Moscow has left at least 56 people injured, six of them seriously, without the accident appearing to be linked to the conflict in Ukraine, which is in its 18th month, according to the regional authorities.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in the morning that an “attempted attack by means of unmanned aerial vehicles was foiled” over the region of the capital, already attacked several times in the past week. . “The anti-aircraft defense destroyed two drones,” the ministry added on Telegram, adding that the attack did not cause any casualties or damage.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said one of the bombs was shot down in the Domodedovo area, where a major international airport is located, and the other near a major highway leading west. The two drones, he said, were headed for Moscow, where previous attacks have twice damaged an office building in the business district.
Ukrainian drone attacks also occur regularly in other Russian regions and in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Naval drones have also targeted Russian ships on several occasions in recent weeks, including an oil tanker on Saturday. . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed at the end of July that “war is coming to Russian territory”.
Explosion in a warehouse
In Sergiev Posad, about fifty kilometers northeast of the capital, where there is in particular an important Orthodox monastery, an explosion on Wednesday injured several dozen people. “A total of 56 people have received medical assistance and 30 of them are currently in hospital, including six in intensive care,” said Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
The explosion occurred in a warehouse of pyrotechnic material rented by a private company on the territory of a local opto-mechanical factory and does not seem to have any connection with the conflict in Ukraine, according to the same source.
Germany: Army employee arrested for spying for Russia
A German working for the army and suspected of spying for Russia was arrested on Wednesday in Koblenz, western Germany, announced the federal prosecutor’s office.
Employed in the main IT and logistics department of the Bundeswehr, responsible in particular for the management of military equipment, the man designated as Thomas H. is “strongly suspected of working for a foreign intelligence service”, said the federal prosecutor’s office in a press release. The suspect had notably offered his services to “the Russian embassy in Berlin”, adds the same source.
Seven dead on Tuesday in a strike in Pokrovsk
On the front in Ukraine, both Russian and Ukrainian bombardments continued on Wednesday, while the Kiev army is engaged in a slow counter-offensive. On the Ukrainian side, an 18-year-old man was killed in a Russian strike on the Nikopol region and one person was injured in the Kherson region, both in the south, local authorities said.
In the territories under Moscow’s control, the occupation authorities reported the death of three people and 11 injuries in Ukrainian bombardments on Donetsk, a stronghold of pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine. On Tuesday, a Russian strike on Pokrovsk (east) killed at least seven people, kyiv denouncing the bombardment of civilian buildings while Moscow claimed to have hit a Ukrainian military command center.
Russia promises “a rapid and adequate response” to threats on its border
As part of its counter-offensive, which has so far only succeeded in retaking a handful of villages, the Ukrainian army said on Wednesday that it was meeting with “partial success” in certain sectors, while Russian troops are still under attack near Kupiansk, in the northeast.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu promised Western countries a “rapid and adequate response” to the “multiplication” of “threats to military security” at Russian borders. Among these threats mentioned by Mr Shoigu, the “indirect war” waged by the West against Russia through “unprecedented support” for Ukraine, but also the accession of Finland and that to come of the Sweden in NATO or even the “militarization of Poland”. “These threats (…) require a rapid and adequate response. We will discuss the necessary measures to neutralize them (…) and take the appropriate decisions,” he told senior army officials.