kyiv hits Russian ammunition depot, Moscow advances in eastern Ukraine

kyiv claimed responsibility for a strike on a Russian munitions depot in a border region on Saturday, with Moscow claiming the capture of a new village in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine also said it had countered a “massive” drone attack on the capital Kiev overnight from Friday to Saturday.

It comes after a week of intense Russian bombing that killed at least 55 people in Poltava, in central Ukraine, and seven others in Lviv, in the west, where hundreds of people attended the funeral of a mother and her three daughters on Friday. Lviv, almost a thousand kilometers from the front, is very close to the western border of Ukraine shared with EU and NATO member countries.

Russia also announces almost daily that it has destroyed Ukrainian drones launched against its territory.

A major fire causing an explosive detonation broke out on Saturday after a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian region of Voronezh, bordering Ukraine, and an evacuation of residents was ordered, the local governor announced.

Russian air defense systems “detected and neutralized a drone” early in the morning, Governor Alexander Gusev wrote on Telegram.

While “no one was injured”, the fall of the drone caused a fire on the ground “which spread to explosive objects, and a detonation occurred”, he indicated, without further details on the nature of these objects.

– Evacuation of a village Russian –

Ukraine: the front line near Donetsk © AFP – Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA, Sabrina BLANCHARD, Valentin RAKOVSKY

Due to the fire, “it was decided to evacuate the inhabitants of a village” to neighboring localities, according to the same source.

According to Russian Telegram channels, the fire broke out in an ammunition depot.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) later claimed to have struck an ammunition depot.

A source from the SBU told AFP that Kiev was targeting “military airfields, ammunition depots and infrastructure” with the aim of “creating a demilitarized zone in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine.”

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 67 drone attacks against Ukraine overnight, and 58 of these drones were shot down.

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AFP journalists in Kiev heard loud explosions during the attack. night.

– Drone attack on kyiv –

“There is hardly a night without Russian drone attacks on the territory of Ukraine. And today we had another massive night drone attack,” the Kiev municipality wrote on social media on Saturday.

The debris of a downed drone fell near the Ukrainian parliament in the city center.

Local officials on the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine reported at least six deaths in Russian shelling on Saturday.

Three people died in the industrial city of Kostyantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region. The regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kherson each deplore one death.

The Russian army claimed Saturday the capture of a new village in eastern Ukraine, where it continues its advance against Ukrainian troops who are outnumbered and lacking firepower.

– Capture of a Ukrainian village –

Russian forces have “liberated the village of Kalynove” in the Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The village is located about 35 kilometers from Pokrovsk, a major logistics hub that has been targeted for several weeks by Russian troops who are moving closer and closer.

Despite a surprise cross-border attack launched by kyiv on August 6 in the Kursk region, Moscow continues to steadily gain ground in the Ukrainian Donetsk region, which remains the epicenter of the fighting.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin displayed his unwavering determination to conquer all of Donbass, the large industrial zone in eastern Ukraine, which includes the Kursk region. Donetsk.

He also said he was willing to hold talks with kyiv based on those of spring 2022, if Ukraine so requests, while Moscow had previously said it ruled out any discussions because of the Ukrainian attack in the Kursk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at an economic forum in Italy, in Cernobbio on Lake Como, on September 6, 2024. © AFP – Piero CRUCIATTI

On the diplomatic front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday, on the sidelines of an economic forum held on the shores of Italy's Lake Como.

Ms. Meloni assured Ukraine of her unwavering support. “We must not fall into the trap of Russian propaganda” by believing that Ukraine's fate was sealed, she warned.

The day before, Mr. Zelensky had participated in a meeting of Kiev's international supporters in Germany and met Chancellor Olaf Scholz, an opportunity to call for “more weapons.”

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