Strikes kill numerous people in Russia and Ukraine

By Stefan J. Bos

Russian officials said Sunday that three people — including two children — were killed by falling debris when five Ukrainian missiles were shot down in Sevastopol, a port city in Russia-annexed Crimea. Nearly 100 people were reportedly injured.

Elsewhere, regional authorities said one person was killed and three injured in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, when three Ukrainian drones attacked the city of Grayvoron.

Yet despite these setbacks, Moscow claimed its air defenses managed to shoot down 33 Ukrainian drones over Russia’s western Bryansk, Smolensk, Lipetsk, and Tula regions with no casualties or damage being reported.

The Ukrainian attacks came after horrific scenes in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Russian-guided aerial bombs hit Kharkiv. The attack was captured on several security cameras.

Rescue workers tried to save lives in this heavily damaged residential building. But authorities said at least three people died after the Russian air strike hit the five-story apartment block. More than 40 people were reportedly still being treated for injuries on Sunday, underscoring the extent of the strike.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack made clear that Ukraine’s partners should help Kyiv boost its air defenses.

He thanked Romania for deciding to provide Ukraine with the Patriots, a sophisticated surface-to-air missile defense system recognized as one of the most advanced air defense systems in the U.S. arsenal. “I thank Romania for the decision to transfer the Patriot system to Ukraine. This is a truly powerful step,” President Zelenskyy said. “As a result, there will be greater security throughout our region, for all our neighbors, for Moldova, for the Baltic states, for Romania as well,” he added.

The United States has already donated a Patriot system to Ukraine and earlier this month approved sending another. Other allies, including Germany, have also provided air defense systems.

U.S. officials have routinely pressed for allies to provide Kyiv with air defense systems, but some Eastern European nations have been reluctant to give up the high-tech systems.

Ukraine also hopes to accelerate the training of Ukrainian pilots for Western F-16 fighter planes and increase the range of its weapons. Kyiv wants to install more solar panels in hospitals and schools, as massive attacks on energy facilities have led to nationwide blackouts.

But these measures do not prevent all suffering as the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 claims more lives.

Overnight officials said two people were wounded by falling debris when two Russian missiles were shot down over the Kyiv region.

And in Ukraine’s partly occupied Donetsk region, Russian attacks on Saturday had reportedly killed two people and wounded four in a war that has entered its third bloodstained year.