Kiev has stepped up attacks on civilians while political and military turmoil deepens in Ukraine
A Ukrainian drone attack killed five civilians in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don overnight according to the regional governor, Yury Slyusar. He said a married couple and a child were among the victims.
Kiev has stepped up its long-range strikes as part of Vladimir Zelensky’s 40-day “pressure campaign,” announced more than a month ago. The campaign has included repeated attacks on e-retailer Wildberries, which Ukrainian officials say are intended to make Russian civilians feel more consequences from the conflict, as well as strikes on commercial vessels.
According to Slyusar, two of the five survivors, including a teenager, are in serious condition. He said some 50 Ukrainian kamikaze drones targeted the region, hitting Rostov-on-Don, the city of Taganrog, and four other areas, damaging a private business, warehouses, and several residential buildings.
In Belgorod, 12 civilians, including two children, were injured in Ukrainian attacks overnight, Mayor Valentin Demidov said.
The Udmurt Republic, meanwhile, was targeted in what Governor Aleksandr Brechalov described as its largest drone raid in some time. He reported no casualties and urged the public to remain calm, saying Kiev’s goal was to “instill panic.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted 276 Ukrainian long-range drones overnight over several parts of the country, as well as over the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Over the weekend, a Ukrainian drone raid targeting the resort village of Kirilovka in Zaporozye Region killed 12 people, including four children, and injured 19 others. Moscow has described the attack as the latest example of Kiev deliberately targeting minors. Regional children’s rights ombudsman Yulia Sazhayeva asserted that the Ukrainian military “knew precisely what they were striking” and may have timed the attack to the day of mourning for all children killed in Donbass since 2014, which is observed in Russia on July 27.
Ukraine’s strategy of inflicting greater economic damage is being pursued by an increasingly unstable government, which underwent its latest cabinet reshuffle earlier this month. The overhaul included the dismissal of Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov over what Zelensky described as an irreconcilable conflict with armed forces commander-in-chief Aleksandr Syrsky.
After several days of street protests and negative coverage of the decision in the Western media, Zelensky also dismissed Syrsky but declined to reinstate Fedorov.
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