Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war unleashed by Russia, now in its sixteenth month, "killed at least 500 Ukrainian children." Zelensky provided that number hours after Ukrainian rescuers found the body of a two-year-old girl who died in the Russian raid in Dnipro. "Many of them could have become famous scholars, artists, sports champions, contributing to the history of Ukraine," he added, specifying that it is impossible to establish the exact number of children victims because of the ongoing hostilities and because some areas are under Russian occupation.
The Russian military said it hit Ukrainian military airports with long-range weapons overnight, after Kiev claimed Moscow had hit an air base in the central part of the country. "Tonight, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out an attack with long-range precision air-launched weapons against enemy targets at military airports," the Russian military said in a statement.
Ukrainian air defenses have destroyed all the missiles and drones that Russia launched against Kiev last night, the head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital, Serhii Popko, announced on Telegram, as reported by the Kyiv Independent. All missiles and drones headed for Kiev were intercepted in the "distant suburbs" of the city, Popko said, adding that the Russians launched the attack from Tu-95MS strategic bombers in the Caspian region. "According to preliminary information, no air targets reached the capital. Everything that was heading towards the city was destroyed by air defense in the distant suburbs. For the second night in a row, the people of Kiev did not hear the explosions above their heads," Popko stressed.
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Plans love silence. There will be no announcement of the beginning": the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, Hanna Malyar, writes today on Telegram, referring to the expected counteroffensive of Kiev. The message is accompanied by a video in which several soldiers invite silence with their index fingers on their lips. The message follows yesterday's interview by Volodymyr Zelensky with the Wall Street Journal, in which the Ukrainian president declared that the country is ready to launch a counteroffensive.
More than 4,000 residents of Russia's Belgorod region have been transferred to reception centers, the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced on Telegram. "To date, we have more than 4,<> people in temporary reception centers. All necessary assistance is being provided," Gladkov wrote.
"The night was quite turbulent in the Belgorod region. Shebekinsky and Volokonovsky districts and neighborhoods were bombed. There is considerable damage. There is no information about the victims," the governor of Russia's Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram.
The Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed four out of six cruise missiles and three out of five kamikaze drones launched last night by the Russians against Ukraine, the Kiev Air Force said, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda. "The occupiers continue night attacks on the territory of Ukraine with drones and cruise missiles on military facilities and critical infrastructure," the Air Force command said. Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 drones were launched from Russia's Bryansk region, while Kh-10/Kh-555 cruise missiles were launched from six TU-95MSs flying over the Caspian region.
Four civilians died and eight others were injured in yesterday's Russian bombing of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the head of the regional administration, Pavel Kirilenko, announced on Telegram, as reported by RBC-Ukraine. Two of the victims were reported in Niu-York, one in Hirnyk and one in Siversk, the governor said.
A drone was shot down over the Russian-annexed Crimean town of Dzhankoy in the early hours of today, pro-Kremlin news channel Shot reported in a Telegram post. "An unidentified drone was shot down in Dzhankoy, Crimea. Several private homes have been damaged and services are currently at work on site. No victims are suspected," the message reads. The city of Dzhankoy is located in the northern part of the peninsula, about 93 kilometers north of the capital Simferopol.
