Ukraine says Russian strikes kill 8 as both sides trade accusations over overnight strikes
Wildberries facilities targeted in Russia's Penza region and Republic of Udmurtia, according to online retailer
Russian airstrikes killed eight people in various Ukrainian regions on Thursday, authorities said, as both countries traded accusations over overnight attacks.
In Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said at least six people were killed and 10 others injured following a missile strike on the Novopillya community near the city of Kryvyi Rih.
He added that two others were injured in drone strikes in the region’s Nikopol district.
The capital Kyiv, meanwhile, was subject to a missile strike, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration, while the State Emergency Service (DSNS) said one person was killed and two others injured in strikes on two districts of the city.
The DSNS reported that one person was killed in the central Poltava region, whose Governor Vitaliy Dyakivnych said strikes hit warehouse facilities at a private company, as well as a terminal of private postal and courier company Nova Poshta.
Five people were also injured in the Brovary district of the surrounding Kyiv region, according to acting regional governor Ruslan Oliinyk.
Lviv Governor Maksym Kozytskyi separately said 31 people were injured in the city following a missile strike that damaged two multi-story buildings. He later added that two kindergartens in Lviv were also damaged.
Late Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received a report from Air Force Commander Anatolii Kryvonozhko and warned there is a “high probability” of a "massive attack" by Russia taking place overnight.
"It is important that our partners fully understand what is happening and that the protection of lives directly depends on their readiness, or lack thereof, to help us with air defense missiles," Zelenskyy said on US social media platform X, saying this concerned the US and partners possessing Patriot missiles, first and foremost.
"All partners know how and with what they can help. Untimely assistance and delays in the delivery of anti-ballistic missiles lead to this kind of destruction, these kinds of casualties that, unfortunately, we are seeing today," Zelenskyy later wrote in a morning statement.
Ukraine's Air Force claimed that its air defenses shot down 265 out of 285 drones, as well as 55 out of 74 missiles, launched by Russia overnight.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it launched a "massive" strike on Ukraine overnight, targeting "military airfields, military-industrial complex facilities, and military telecommunications and logistics centers" in various Ukrainian regions.
"These centers were involved in the production, storage, and delivery of various missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as in the operation of the air situation monitoring system," the statement said, adding that "military industrial enterprises, telecommunications and logistics centers" were also targeted.
The ministry also claimed that its air defenses shot down 258 Ukrainian drones overnight across nine regions, as well as over the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
In Russia, online retailer Wildberries said another company warehouse in the Penza region was damaged, injuring one, while a logistics facility in the Republic of Udmurtia also came under attack.
Wildberries said it carried out evacuations after air raid alerts were declared in respective regions.
Ukrainian drone attacks have struck multiple Wildberries logistics centers in July, causing casualties and disruption, as Kyiv intensified attacks, including against energy facilities, deep inside Russia, which it refers to as “long-range sanctions.”
The strikes targeted facilities in Russian regions including Tambov, Moscow and Stavropol, as well as in the St. Petersburg area and in Crimea.
Ukraine claims the warehouses are being used to provide military supplies to the Russian army, an accusation Russian authorities have denied.
Meanwhile, the police department of the Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland said on X that an explosion was heard in the country's Bilgoraj County, where officials later discovered a crater and scattered debris from an "unidentified object" between the villages of Tarnawa Kolonia and Tokary.
The two villages are about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the Polish-Ukrainian border.
According to Polish broadcaster TVP World, the cause of the blast, which it said left a crater about 10 meters wide, remained unclear, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X that "there was a violation of Polish airspace."