The main battlefield developments in the Russian invasion of Ukraine as of Thursday morning are as follows:
The death toll in a Russian attack on a hardware superstore in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has risen to 11, says the regional governor, with President Volodymyr Zelensky condemning the attack as “vile”. Kharkiv region’s Governor Oleg Synegubov reported on Telegram that as many as 40 people were wounded and 16 missing after two guided Russian bombs hit the store.
Another strike hit the center of Kharkiv, wounding 14 in an area with a post office, a hairdresser and a cafe, city’s Mayor Igor Terekhov said.
Ukraine’s air force on Sunday said it destroyed 12 missiles and all 31 drones launched by Russia during its overnight air attack. It said the missiles and drones had been shot down over parts of southern, central, western and northern Ukraine. Two hypersonic Kinzhal missiles remained unaccounted for.
In the eastern Donetsk region, shelling killed a 40-year-old woman and wounded four other people, according to the regional governor, Vadym Filashkin.
Ukraine said Russia also shelled the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, a railway hub in the region of Kharkiv, wounding five, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Two vehicles came under fire: a car with two passengers and an ambulance with a driver, a paramedic and a 64-year-old patient.
Prosecutors reported that a factory and residential buildings were damaged in separate Russian air attacks on the Kupiansk district.
Moscow accused Ukraine of shelling a small town in the Belgorod region, killing two people and wounding 10.
Russia’s naval forces destroyed two Ukrainian sea drones in the northwest of the Black Sea, as they headed for the Crimean Peninsula, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a Google-translated Telegram post. Russia uses the Sevastopol naval base in the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, for its Black Sea fleet. The Ukrainian military has previously reported instances of its sea drones striking and sinking Russian Black Sea Fleet ships off the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine says it shot down 13 drones overnight
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 13 out of 14 drones launched overnight by Russia, according to a Google-translated Wednesday update on the Telegram messaging app.
The attack took place over the Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Rivne regions, and involved Iranian-make Shahed drones, the Ukrainian air force added.
Falling debris in the Rivne area led to a blackout enveloping some settlements as a result of the attack, regional Governor Oleksandr Koval said in a separate Google-translated Telegram post.
He added that no injuries had been reported, and the local power supply has been restored.
Politics and diplomacy
Ukraine should be allowed to use Western arms against Russian military sites used to target Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said late Tuesday, bowing to ongoing requests from Kyiv.
“How can we explain to Ukraine that they need to protect their cities, but that they don’t have the right to attack where the missiles are coming from? It’s as if we were telling them we’re giving you arms, but you cannot use them to defend yourself,” Macron said late Tuesday during a press conference in Meseberg, Germany.
Macron was joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who agreed Ukraine should be allowed to defend its territory as long as it respected the conditions of the weapons suppliers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of serious consequences if Russia is struck with Western weapons.
That came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s made a two-day tour of Europe, during which he visited Spain, Portugal and Belgium and received more promises of military aid.
Blinken Visits Moldova to Bolster Support for Ukraine
In other news, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday headed to the Moldovan capital of Chisinau, the first stop of a short European tour intended to bolster support for Ukraine.
Blinken met with Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu as US officials say her country, which shares a long border with Ukraine, faces Russian “influence operations.”
Blinken announced support worth $50 million to help Chisinau transition away from Russian energy dependence and further integrate with the EU, amid warnings of heightened hybrid threats from Russia.
This support will “bolster the ability of Moldovans to resist Russian interference, to hold free and fair elections, to continue down the path to the European Union and Western integration, and to create more economic opportunity,” Blinken said.
The top US diplomat will travel to Prague to join a gathering of NATO foreign ministers, ahead of the alliance’s leaders’ summit in July.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
