31 July 2023 , 20:53
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Volodymyr Zelensky vowed “war is returning to Russia” but hours later six people in his home city were killed in missile attacks.
Ukraine ’s leader made his defiant statement while visiting injured troops and presenting medals for bravery. He has also made morale boosting trips to the front line, where Ukraine’s forces are coming under increasing bombardment from Russia.
While he was in Ivano-Frankivsk in the west giving out medals, the Kremlin targeted his home of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine. At least six people, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed in a missiles attack on an apartment complex, which also injured 75, with many trapped beneath the rubble.
President Zelensky said: “In recent days, the enemy has been stubbornly attacking cities, city centres, shelling civilian objects and housing. But this terror will not frighten us or break us.” At the weekend, drone strikes, believed to have been launched by Ukraine, hit two Moscow office buildings. It was the fourth time that the Russian capital was hit last month.
Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Monday (ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Mr Zelensky described the explosions in Russia as “an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process”. There was evidence of damage to the Moscow International Business Center after a reported drone attack. Russia’s defence ministry claimed three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow. It said one was shot down on the outskirts, two others were “suppressed by electronic warfare” and smashed into an office complex.
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The attacks are the latest blow to the strongman image of President Vladimir Putin, who annnounced 30 new ships for the navy at the weekend’s Navy Day parade in St Petersburg. The recent coup bid by Wagner mercenaries and the strikes inside Russia have hit his position. Ukraine estimates 246,190 Russian troops have died in the conflict, with 4,211 tanks and 315 warplanes destroyed.