Ukraine says it shot down a missile targeting kyiv, after a period of calm for the capital

Ukraine said it shot down a missile targeting Kiev on Saturday, ending the killing of a missile targeting Kiev on Saturday. almost two months of relative calm for the capital even if no one was injured, while the regions close to the front were devastated. targeted by a wave of Russian attacks.

This round of strikes occurs on the first anniversary of the liberation of Kherson by the Ukrainian army. A date which also marks the last major evolution of the front, Kiev's ambitious counter-offensive has since come up against impenetrable Russian defenses.

President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Saturday the “heroism” of this southern city “synonymous with hope”, regretting that Russia this year took “revenge” with the bombs of the “freedom of Kherson”.

From Friday evening to Saturday morning, “nearly 40 drones and missiles” were fired towards Ukraine, he said.

One of these missiles, which targeted Kiev, was shot down on Saturday morning, according to local authorities.

“After a long break of 52 days, the enemy has resumed its missile attacks on Kiev!”, said the head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital Sergiï Popko on Telegram messaging.

Ukraine fears an increase in attacks with the arrival of cold weather. Last winter, Russia shelled Ukraine's energy network, leaving thousands of people without heat or electricity.

AFP journalists in the center of the capital heard two loud explosions and saw traces in the sky at dawn. Air warning sirens sounded shortly afterwards.

No casualties or material damage were reported, but two other missiles struck a field between two residential areas in the Kiev region, it said. the head of the regional military administration Ruslan Kravchenko.

Five apartment buildings were damaged, with broken roofs and windows, he added.

– Drone attacks –

The rest of Ukraine was not spared from the attacks. In total, the army said it had shot down 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones, out of the 31 sent to its territory.

In the Sumy region (north-east), two men were killed on Saturday in a Russian attack whose circumstances have not been specified, according to the attorney general's office.

Further east, two elderly people died “probably due to artillery fire” in Toretsk, a town in the Donetsk region, he also said.

< img class="aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/d2f1acccd8d33f3b749b6b5e6385b550.jpg" alt="Ukraine says it shot down a missile targeting Kiev, after a period of calm for the capital " />

© AFP – Roman PILIPEY

To the south, in the Odessa region, three people were injured by a Russian strike, according to the local governor, Oleg Kiper.

These attacks also affected port infrastructure, important for exports of the Ukraine and therefore Moscow's preferred targets, he said.

Over the past 24 hours, two people were killed and eight others injured in the Kherson region, said Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

And in central Kherson, two people were injured Saturday afternoon in a strike on a building, according to the regional administration. Bombings remain almost daily in this city, a year after the end of its occupation by the Russians.

The anniversary of this liberation is a celebration which “reinforces the confidence of Ukrainians in their abilities”, assured Volodymyr Zelensky in a video.

His commander-in-chief, Valery Zalouzhny, reminded him that his soldiers “continue to fight and defend our land with determination”.

< p>This respected official recently created controversy by declaring that the war was “at an impasse”, fueling the debate on the limited results of Kiev's counter-offensive.

Because, since the liberation of Kherson , the front is almost frozen. Worse, Russia launches its own attacks to force the Ukrainian army to withdraw, as in Avdiïvka, in the east.

Around this city, Kiev troops face Russian assaults but “are holding firmly”, assured a commander of the Ukrainian army Oleksandr Tarnavskiï.

A Ukrainian strike left one dead in Gorlivka, in territory occupied by Russia, the mayor installed by the Russians said on Telegram. Russian authorities, Ivan Prikhodko.

And in Russia, Ukrainian drones were shot down in the Smolensk region, near the Ukrainian border, and in that of Moscow, without causing any injuries, according to the Russian authorities .

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