Local authorities also reported a subsequent attack on firefighters who were attempting to put out the fire caused by the initial strike, resulting in four firefighters being wounded.
According to Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the regional government in Kherson, the attack on the Orthodox church took place on Thursday morning. "Three passengers of a passing bus were injured during the attack and have been rushed to the hospital," Prokudin said.
Soon after the initial attack, Russian forces launched a renewed assault on the firefighters who were battling the blaze. Ukraine's Interior Ministry issued a communiqué revealing that four officers from the Emergency Situations Service were injured in the second attack.
Russian forces on Thursday also struck the capital city of Kyiv with drones. Reports indicate that 15 Iranian Shahed drones were launched by Russian troops into Ukrainian airspace during the night. All of them were successfully intercepted and shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses.
Meanwhile, in Kherson, the ongoing barrage of Russian shelling has left the region reeling. The church attack adds to the tally, with over the past 24 hours, 264 Russian shells, including artillery shells, tank shells, mortar shells, and Grad multi-launcher shells, bombarded the area.
(jh)
Source: PAP, IAR