Airstrikes on cities along the Russian/Ukrainian border claimed the lives of at least a dozen people on Friday. These attacks coincided with a significant military reorganization in Kyiv, where the air force commander was dismissed.
Both sides reported gains on the battlefield — Moscow in eastern Ukraine and Kyiv in its surprising offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region. Despite the ongoing conflict, now two and a half years since Russia’s invasion, there were no signs of it letting up.
A Russian airstrike targeted the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Friday afternoon, killing seven people, including a 14-year-old girl, according to Ukraine’s interior minister.
Emergency crews were still recovering bodies from the debris late into Friday evening. Social media images showed the top floors of a multi-story residential building torn open and a fire blazing after the strike. At least 77 people were injured, including 18 children, as reported by emergency services.
President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Kyiv’s Western allies to increase their support following the assault, which authorities reported was carried out with a glide bomb.
“We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror,” Zelensky said in a post on social media.
“We need long-range capabilities,” he added, referring to Kyiv’s appeals to allies to lift restrictions on the use of Western-supplied missiles inside Russian territory and deliver more longer-range weapons.
“We need the implementation of air defence agreements for Ukraine. This is about saving lives,” he added.
– Belgorod hit –
About 60 kilometers (37 miles) north across the border, Russia reported that Ukraine had launched cluster bombs at the city of Belgorod and its surrounding areas, resulting in the deaths of at least five people and injuries to 37 civilians, including a minimum of six children.
“One woman and four men died of their wounds on the spot before an ambulance arrived,” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on Telegram.
He uploaded a video depicting a house engulfed in flames following one of the attacks. The state-operated TASS media agency shared images of a road in Belgorod littered with debris and crumpled metal.
Both Belgorod and Kharkiv have experienced frequent aerial attacks during the conflict.
In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a new campaign in the Kharkiv region, claiming it aimed to push Ukrainian troops away to establish a “security zone” for Russia’s border towns.
Russian forces announced on Friday that they had seized control of three additional villages in eastern Ukraine, including one in the Kharkiv region, as they push forward against Ukrainian troops struggling with shortages of personnel and supplies.
On the same day, Ukraine reported progress in Russia’s western Kursk region, where it has launched a surprise ground offensive. Ukraine claimed to have taken control of 100 settlements and over 1,200 square kilometers of land since August 6.
– Commander fired –
On Friday, Zelensky removed Ukraine’s air force chief from his position, just one day after Kyiv reported that a US-made F-16 fighter jet had crashed during combat, resulting in the pilot’s death.
In a video statement, Zelensky explained that he had decided to replace the commander of the air force” to strengthen Ukraine’s military leadership.
His office had previously released a presidential decree formally dismissing Mykola Oleshchuk from his role.
The F-16 crash represented a significant blow to Kyiv, which had been actively advocating for the West to provide the advanced fighter jet for several months.
The military reported that the plane and its pilot crashed during a combat mission earlier this week after successfully intercepting incoming Russian missiles.
Zelensky did not elaborate on his reasons for replacing his air force commander, only mentioning that his leadership team “needed to become stronger.”
Lieutenant General Anatolii Kryvonozhko, who manages the air force’s operations in central Ukraine, has temporarily taken on the role of overall commander.
On Friday, Kyiv also requested Mongolia to detain Putin during his visit to the country next week.
This will be the Russian leader’s first visit to an International Criminal Court member nation since The Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for him last year in connection with the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Mongolia is technically required to detain him, though the Kremlin expressed no worries about this possibility and noted that there is little the ICC can do if Mongolia decides not to act.
AFP
