Kryvyi Rih hit by Russian strikes overnight
Russian cruise missiles hit two inductrial complexes in the central city of Kryvyi Rih overnight, according to Serhiy Lysak, the region’s governor.
Lysak said the strikes caused significant damage, including broken gas pipelines.
Fires broke out at enterprises, which rescuers have already put out.”
A 38-year-old man was injured in the attack and has been hospitalised.
Military officials said that four cruise missiles were launched by Russia overnight. One of the missiles was destroyed by air defences, the rest hit industrial facilities in the Dnepropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located.
It’s the second time that Kryvyi Rih – president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s home city – has been targeted by Russian airstrikes this week.
On Tuesday morning, at least 12 people were killed and many more were wounded after a missile struck an apartment block and a food warehouse in the city.
Key events
The governor of Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk region has shared images that are reportedly from the site of the strikes on Kryvyi Rih.
Serhiy Lysak said that two industrial complexes were hit in overnight strikes on the city, injuring one person. While the damage was reported to be ‘“significant”, the city’s mayor said the two enterprises that had been hit “had nothing to do with the military.”
The Wall St Journal is reporting that Japan is in talks to provide artillery shells to the United States to bolster stocks for Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia.
To date, Japan has only provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine.
The report claims that Tokyo is considering supplying 155-mm. artillery shells “under a 2016 agreement that allows the Japan and the US to share ammunition as part of their longstanding security alliance.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held talks earlier this month in Tokyo with Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada. After the meeting, Austin praised Japan for the nonlethal military support it has given Ukraine and said additional assistance would be welcome.
In March, the EU’s most senior diplomat warned that there would be “difficulties” if western countries failed to reach a deal to replenish Ukraine’s dwindling stocks of ammunition.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday that one of his senior commanders was alive and well, dismissing reports that he had been killed or wounded in Ukraine.
The commander, Adam Delimkhanov, heads the Chechen division of the Russian national guard and is also a member of Russia’s parliament. He is widely seen as Chechnya’s second most senior official after Kadyrov himself.
Kadyrov, who has led Chechnya since 2007 and is a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that Delimkhanov was “alive and well and not even wounded”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian media, citing the parliamentary press service, said that Delimkhanov had been wounded in Ukraine. It followed rumours on Ukrainian social media channels that the Chechen commander had been killed in an artillery strike in southern Ukraine.
‘Significant’ destruction at Kryvyi Rih industrial complex, says mayor
Oleksandr Vilkul, the mayor of Kryvyi Rih, has said that missile strikes on an industrial complex in the city caused “significant” damage, but the two enterprises that had been hit “had nothing to do with the military.”
Three missiles hit two industrial enterprises overnight, Vilkul said, adding that a fourth was shot down by air defences.
Thank you to the employees of the enterprises who, after the announcement of the air raid alert, went to the shelter, because of which they remained unharmed … All important infrastructure, public transport, social and medical institutions [in] the city work stably.”
Vilkul said that at noon local time, a planned explosion would be carried out for “production purposes”.
Odesa targeted by Russian strikes for second day in a row
Odesa was reportedly targeted by Russian strikes overnight, after already enduring a deadly wave in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Ukraine’s southern military command released a statement in the early hours of Thursday morning, saying Russia was attacking “with unmanned aerial vehicles” – meaning drones – and there was “also a threat of a missile attack”, while advising residents to go to shelters.
Officials later said that all 20 drones that attacked in the south were destroyed by air defence forces.
On Wednesday, three people were killed and at least 13 injured in a Russian missile attack on Odesa, Ukrainian forces said.
Authorities said that air defences downed two of the Russian Kalibr cruise missiles launched on Wednesday morning, but the attack still struck civilian infrastructure including a business centre, an educational institution, a residential complex, restaurants and shops.
It was a one of a number of attacks across the country on Wednesday that left 13 civilians dead and 24 injured.
Ukrainian military officials said that Wednesday’s attack on Odesa was “apparently aimed at the objects sought by the enemy in the area of logistics support for the defence forces.”
Kryvyi Rih hit by Russian strikes overnight
Russian cruise missiles hit two inductrial complexes in the central city of Kryvyi Rih overnight, according to Serhiy Lysak, the region’s governor.
Lysak said the strikes caused significant damage, including broken gas pipelines.
Fires broke out at enterprises, which rescuers have already put out.”
A 38-year-old man was injured in the attack and has been hospitalised.
Military officials said that four cruise missiles were launched by Russia overnight. One of the missiles was destroyed by air defences, the rest hit industrial facilities in the Dnepropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located.
It’s the second time that Kryvyi Rih – president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s home city – has been targeted by Russian airstrikes this week.
On Tuesday morning, at least 12 people were killed and many more were wounded after a missile struck an apartment block and a food warehouse in the city.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine, my name is Jonathan Yerushalmy.
The central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has been hit by Russian airstrikes for the second time this week. Cruise missiles struck two industrial enterprises, the region’s governor said. A 38-year-old man was injured in the attacks.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s port city of Odesa was targeted by Russian airstrikes for the second day in a row. Users on Ukrainian social media reported hearing explosions and Ukraine’s southern military command said that Russia was attacking “with unmanned aerial vehicles” and there was also “a threat of a missile attack.”
More on that shortly, first here’s are the other key developments from the last 24 hours:
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Ukraine is taking significant casualties and making slow progress towards the Russian main line of defence, western officials have admitted in one of the west’s first assessments of the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched on 4 June. “This is incredibly difficult,” the official said. “They are going against a well-prepared line that the Russians have had months to prepare.”
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Ukraine reported incremental advances in its counteroffensive against Russian forces on Wednesday, in what the Ukrainian deputy defence minister described as “extremely fierce” fighting. In the past day, Ukrainian troops had advanced 200-500 metres in various areas near the largely devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, and 300-350 metres in the direction of the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Hanna Maliar said.
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Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, has said alliance members must ensure Ukraine keeps getting enough arms to pursue its counteroffensive against Russia. “It is still early days and we do not know if this will be a turning point,” he said.
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UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi delayed a trip to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station on Wednesday for security reasons, as heavy fighting raged in southern Ukraine. Russian news agencies quoted a senior official in Russia’s nuclear industry as saying Grossi was likely to visit the plant on Thursday.
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The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has appeared to side with his top military commanders in calling for Russia’s “volunteer detachments” fighting in Ukraine to be placed under the direct control of the defence ministry. The order from Moscow had been seen as an attempt to rein in the Wagner mercenary group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, by incorporating them into the army.
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Western microchips and other components coming largely via China are being used to manufacture Russian cruise and ballistic missiles that are being launched at Ukraine, Kyiv has said in a presentation prepared for G7 members this week. The document calls for the world’s leading economies to further tighten export controls.
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The Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday that one of his senior commanders was alive and well, dismissing reports that he had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. Adam Delimkhanov heads the Chechen division of the Russian national guard and is also a member of Russia’s parliament. He is widely seen as Chechnya’s second most senior official after Kadyrov himself.
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A former campaign leader for the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison on Wednesday for “creating an extremist organisation”, Reuters reported, citing the rights group OVD-Info. Navalny supporters reacted with outrage to the sentence against Liliya Chanysheva.
