18 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GooglePaul Adams,Diplomatic correspondentandCharlotte Hadfield
Ukrainian President ZelenskyAt least 16 people have been killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight, with 10 dead in ballistic missile strikes just outside Kyiv, according to a national official.
Writing on social media, Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed about 100 people had been injured in Kyiv, where emergency services are still at the scene, with five other people killed in the eastern city of Sloviansk.
Meanwhile, an overnight Ukrainian strike killed six people and wounded 26 near the Russian city of Kirov, more than 1,000 km (600 miles) behind the front line.
Ukraine also attacked the warehouses of Wildberries – Russia’s biggest online retailer – in St Petersburg and the surrounding area, setting off huge fires.
In the attacks near Kyiv, Russia also appeared to have targeted Defence Ministry adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov, aka Flash, and Lyuba Shypovych, who has been involved in developing technology for the Ukrainian army.
Following the incident, both took to social media to confirm they were OK.
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told Ukrainian TV the attack involved three ballistic missiles, only one of which was intercepted.
The attack took place in the middle of the day at a training ground not far from Kyiv where a military exhibition was being held and representatives of Ukraine’s defence industry were present.
This is at least the third time since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 when an exhibition of this kind has been hit.
There’s widespread outrage that public event of this kind was being held at all and had, apparently, been widely advertised.
President Zelensky said the incident was being investigated, while Ukraine’s prosecutor general said efforts were under way to establish who decided to hold the event and what safety measures were in place.
In Ukraine’s attacks on Russia, drones have now hit Wildberries warehouses across Russia three times in six days, with Friday’s attacks targeting a facility near Saint Petersburg.
In Ukraine’s first attack on Wildberries at the weekend, two warehouses were hit, at Elektrostal east of Moscow and in Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 400km (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
Seven workers on a nightshift were killed in Kotovsk and one was fatally wounded at Elektrostal. Dozens more were injured and goods worth an estimated at £750m ($1bn) were destroyed.
The attacks on the retailer have dealt a blow to a large number of small and medium-sized businesses within Russia.
Ukrainian President ZelenskyIn separate strikes, President Zelensky said the attack on Kirov also targeted “one of the most important military facilities” in Kirov, which “supplies components for aircraft and missile equipment” used in strikes against Ukraine.
After months of drone attacks on oil depots and refineries, Kyiv says it is now targeting logistics hubs used by Russians to buy military equipment, and disrupting supplies to the Russian army.
WildberriesMeanwhile, Romanian President Nicusor Dan said a Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a Russian drone breaching the country’s airspace on Friday.
The Romanian authorities had earlier issued alerts across several eastern and south-eastern counties.
UkraineRussiaWar in UkraineVolodymyr ZelenskyKyiv
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