No casualties reported in Kyiv after falling debris
Air defence systems appear to have prevented Russian strikes on Kyiv this morning, with falling debris striking the city but no casualties reported.
The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, posted to Telegram:
In addition to the debris of the rocket that fell on the territory of one of the capital’s children’s hospitals, two more crash sites were found in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
The roof of a private house was damaged on Bogatyrska Street.
Also in Obolon, a wreck was discovered in an open area in one of the summer cooperatives. There are no casualties.
Key events
Here’s some video of a Ukrainian strike on a Russian stronghold in Donetsk oblast:
An 8-year-old boy has been killed in a Russian rocket attack in the Prykarpattia area of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast in western Ukraine, the regional governor, Svitlana Onyshchuk, said on Telegram.
The rocket hit a civilian home in the Kolomyia district where a family of three children lived, Ukraine’s armed forces said on Telegram.
Russian ballistic missile strike hit a home in Ivano-Frankivsk region, a child died – Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine
An 8-year-old boy died as a result of the attack. Information about other victims is currently being checked.
Terrorist state continues terrorizing… pic.twitter.com/ZLqXLPnupi
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 11, 2023
The Russian defence ministry is saying on Telegram that 20 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in attacks in Kherson oblast.
The claim comes after an artillery strike on the city of Kherson injured two civilians, a woman and a 44-year-old man, while a drone strike on Beryslav injured another man in the region. The regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram that a 53-year-old man had been killed in the shelling of a high-rise building in the city of Kherson earlier on Friday.
The president of Belarus, a country that has been a staunch ally of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, has said he wishes to maintain relations with EU countries, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti is reporting.
“Now we live primarily at the expense of the east – Russia, China. But we must not forget about the high-tech West,” Alexander Lukashenko said. “They are nearby, they are our neighbours, the European Union, and we cannot lose relations with them.”
Lukashenko made his remarks after a visit to Minsk national airport, where he addressed Belarusian aviation under western sanctions.
A number of western countries, including EU members, have enacted sanctions against Belarusian officials and enterprises and industries in response to Minsk’s support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Summary of the day so far …
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Air defence systems appear to have prevented Russian strikes on Kyiv on Friday morning, with falling debris striking the city but no casualties reported. The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, posted on Telegram: “In addition to the debris of the rocket that fell on the territory of one of the capital’s children’s hospitals, two more crash sites were found in the Obolon district of Kyiv. The roof of a private house was damaged on Bogatyrska Street. Also in Obolon, a wreck was discovered in an open area in one of the summer cooperatives. There are no casualties.”
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The mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, has reported no injuries after a drone was downed over the city. He posted on Telegram: “An attempt was made to fly a drone over the city. As a result of the air defence work, it was eliminated. No one was hurt when debris fell in the area of Karamyshevskaya embankment. There are no serious damages. Emergency services are on site.”
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Vnukovo airport in Moscow was temporarily closed as a result of a drone in the region’s airspace. Authorities have now cordoned off the area where it fell.
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Two people, a woman and a 44-year-old man, were injured when artillery fire hit the city of Kherson. Another man was injured in the region in a drone strike on Beryslav.
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Tass reports that Ukrainian forces have hit the occupied city of Horlivka in Donetsk with four cluster munitions. There were no details of any casualties.
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Russian authorities appear to have ruled out any Ukrainian involvement in the major explosion at the Zagorsk optical and mechanical plant in Sergiev Posad, near Moscow. Interfax reports that a criminal case has been initiated on violation of industrial safety requirements, and that the technical director of the Piro-Ross company, which owned the warehouse where the explosion occurred, has been detained. Eight people are still reported to be missingand 84 wounded. One person is known to have died.
Authorities in Moscow have closed a road and taped off an area while officials investigate the remains of what is claimed to have been a Ukrainian drone downed early on Friday morning.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has published its latest map of how it assesses the situation on the ground in Ukraine.
Here are some images from the news wires of Zaporizhzhia, where one person died and more than a dozen were injured in a strike early on Thursday evening.
Zaporizhzhia is one of the regions of Ukraine which Russia unilateraly claims to have annexed.
Helena Smith
Helena Smith is in Athens for the Guardian:
The impact of what Moscow calls its special operation in Ukraine is increasingly being reflected in Russians’ holiday choices.
Testimony to the breakdown in relations between Athens and the Kremlin as a result of the war, Russians who can afford to take holidays have elected to abandon the fellow Orthodox nation in favour of Turkey.
Statistics show arrivals of Russians are up dramatically in the neighbouring country, aided in part by the devaluation of the Turkish lira. The destination is expected to surpass pre-pandemic tourist records this year.
But geopolitical factors and the fallout from the war have also played a key role in keeping Russians away from Greece, a nation with which they traditionally enjoyed strong ties, culturally and politically, before Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Months after the full-scale operation began, as it became apparent which side Nato-member Athens was on, Moscow’s ambassador to Greece, Andrey Maslov, warned his compatriots to be on guard if they chose to holiday in the Mediterranean country, saying it had become a locus for Ukrainian nationalists.
Speaking to Rossyia 24 he said: “If Russian citizens visit Greece, they should be ready, alert and very careful, as there are many Ukrainian nationalists in Greece now. This should be taken into account.”
Since then bilateral relations, described at the time by the envoy as having “completely stopped”, have gone from bad to worst as Greece has stepped up its support for Ukraine providing military assistance, ammunition shipments and access to the strategic port of Alexandroupolis. The port, just 60 miles north of Turkey’s Dardanelle Straits, is used by US forces to transport men and arms to the shores of the Black Sea and is seen as a vital regional hub for Nato.
Moscow mayor says no casualties after drone brought down over city
The mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, has reported that there were no injuries after a drone was downed over the city.
He posted on Telegram:
An attempt was made to fly a drone over the city. As a result of the air defence work, it was eliminated. No one was hurt when debris fell in the area of Karamyshevskaya embankment. There are no serious damages. Emergency services are on site.
Video has emerged which appears to show the aftermath.
Moscow’s Vnukovo airport has reopened, Tass reports.
No casualties reported in Kyiv after falling debris
Air defence systems appear to have prevented Russian strikes on Kyiv this morning, with falling debris striking the city but no casualties reported.
The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, posted to Telegram:
In addition to the debris of the rocket that fell on the territory of one of the capital’s children’s hospitals, two more crash sites were found in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
The roof of a private house was damaged on Bogatyrska Street.
Also in Obolon, a wreck was discovered in an open area in one of the summer cooperatives. There are no casualties.
Reuters is carrying a statement from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. It stated:
For reasons beyond the control of the airport, temporary restrictions on the landing and take-offs of aircraft were introduced in Vnukovo. For safety reasons, some of the flights were redirected to other airports of the Moscow aviation hub.
The all clear has sounded across Ukraine.
Russian authorities appear to have ruled out any Ukrainian involvement in the major explosion at the Zagorsk optical and mechanical plant in Sergiev Posad near Moscow.
Interfax reports that a criminal case has been initiated on violation of industrial safety requirements, and that the technical director of the Piro-Ross company, which owned the warehouse where the explosion occurred, has been detained.
Eight people are still reported to be missing, with 84 wounded. One person is known to have died.
Tass cites the Russian-imposed local authority in Horlivka in Donetsk on it Telegram channel as saying that Ukrainian forces have hit the city with four cluster munitions. The claims have not been independently verified. There were no details of any casualties.
Drone forces closure of Moscow’s Vnukovo airport
Russian state-owned news agency RIA reports on its Telegram channel that Vnukovo airport in Moscow is temporarily closed beacause of a drone in its airspace. It cited Russia’s emergency services.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reports that a children’s hospital has been stuck in a Russian attack on the city on Friday morning, but that there were no casualties. He posted to Telegram:
Fragments of a rocket fell on the territory of one of the capital’s children’s hospitals. There were no injuries or damage. Emergency services are on the scene.
