The assault was carried out using 13 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles, launched from strategic aircraft, in the early hours of Friday, Ukraine’s state Ukrinform news agency reported.
Serhiy Tyurin, the governor of Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region, said the strike had been directed at the Viysk military airfield near the province, according to Britain’s The Guardian newspaper.
All 13 Russian cruise missiles heading towards the Viysk airfield were shot down by Ukraine’s air defence, the country’s air force said.
The missiles had been launched from several Tupolev Tu-95 bombers in the Caspian Sea area and most of them were intercepted over the Khmelnytskyi region, according to officials.
One Russian reconnaissance drone “of an unspecified type” was also eliminated, Ukraine’s air force reported.
Russia shells Ukraine’s Sumy region, injuring one person
Russia on Thursday shelled nine communities in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, injuring one person, The Kyiv Independent website reported.
There were 21 shelling attacks that led to at least 147 explosions in the province, with a resident of the Shalyhyne settlement receiving a shrapnel wound in her forearm, according to the Sumy regional military administration.
A water tower, residential buildings and private homes were also damaged in the wave of shelling, which included mortar fire, artillery bombardment and air strikes, according to officials.
The nine communities targeted in Thursday’s shelling are Krasnopillia, Khotin, Yunakivka, Vorozhba, Shalyhyne, Bilopillia, Myropillia, Nova Sloboda, and Esman, the regional administration said.
Since parts of the Sumy province were liberated from Russian forces in early April 2022, the region, which borders Russia, has been experiencing daily shelling and attacks from across the frontier, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Foreign donors pledge €60 bn in new financial aid to Ukraine
Foreign donors pledged EUR 60 billion in new financial assistance for Kyiv at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which ended in London on Thursday, The Guardian reported.
The two-day event was designed to help secure funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction, according to officials.
The commitments from governments and international organisations “targeted supporting Ukraine in the short and medium term,” Britain’s Foreign Minister James Cleverly said on Thursday.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told the conference on Wednesday that “Poland has proved its commitment to helping Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, and can also play a leading role in the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine,” Polish state news agency PAP reported.
UN adds Russia to global list of offenders for killing children in Ukraine
Meanwhile, the United Nations has included Russia in a global list of offenders for killing 136 children in Ukraine last year, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
The UN has established that “Russian armed forces and affiliated groups” maimed at least 518 children in Ukraine, carried out 480 attacks on schools and hospitals, and used 91 children as human shields, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said that Russia had killed 490 Ukrainian children and wounded 1,028 as part of its full-scale invasion as of Thursday, as well as forcibly relocating almost 20,000 Ukrainian children, of whom only 373 have managed to return home, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Friday is day 485 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Ukrinform, Reuters, The Kyiv Independent, The Guardian, Ukrainska Pravda