KYIV, Ukraine — Russia struck the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv with aerial bombs Wednesday for the primary time since 2022, killing at the least one civilian and wounding 16 others, native officers mentioned.
The airstrikes brought about widespread harm, hitting a number of residential buildings and damaging the town’s institute for emergency surgical procedure.
Russia has escalated its assaults on Ukraine in current days, launching a number of missile barrages on the capital Kyiv and hitting vitality infrastructure throughout the nation in obvious retaliation for current Ukrainian aerial assaults on the Russian border area of Belgorod. Such sporadic assaults, nonetheless, have been frequent all through the struggle.
The Kharkiv area cuts throughout the entrance line the place Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in battles for over two years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The area is often attacked with missiles and drones.
Sergey Bolvinov, head of the investigative police division in Kharkiv, mentioned in a Telegram put up that Wednesday’s assault marked the primary time aerial bombs had been used since 2022. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov additionally reported the usage of aerial bombs.
The current escalation comes as exhausted Ukrainian troops wrestle with a scarcity of personnel and ammunition and face rising Russian stress alongside the entrance line that stretches over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sacked one in every of his high safety officers, changing him with the top of Ukraine’s overseas spy company in a brand new reshuffle.
Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksii Danilov, who served as secretary of the Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, thanking him for his service in a video deal with late Tuesday. The president gave no purpose and mentioned, with out offering particulars, that Danilov will likely be “reassigned to a different space.”
Zelenskyy changed him with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, who served as head of Ukraine’s International Intelligence Service.
The Nationwide Safety Council is a coverage coordination physique that’s chaired by Zelenskyy. Danilov had held his place since October 2019, a couple of months after Zelenskyy took workplace.
The dismissal follows Zelenskyy’s resolution in February to fireplace Ukraine’s chief army officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and change him with Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi. Tensions between Zaluzhnyi and the president grew after Ukraine’s much-touted 2023 summer time counteroffensive failed to succeed in its targets. This month, Zaluzhnyi was named Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK.
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