11 killed as Russia bombs Ukraine
AT least 11 people died in a barrage of Russian attacks across kraine on Thursday, after Kiev secured promises from the nited States and
ermany for the delivery of modern battle tanks.
The State Emergency Service also said 11 people were injured in the bombardments that kraine’s military said involved more than 50 missiles and nearly two dozen kamikaze drones.
f them, 85 were intercepted, krainian commander-in-chief Valerii aluzhnyi said on Telegram.
Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said several infrastructure sites were hit, leading to power cuts in the dessa, Kiev and Vinnytsia regions.
Among the victims was a 55-year-old man killed in Kiev, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Two others were injured in the capital.
More than 15 Russian missiles are reported to have been intercepted in the Kiev region alone.
Russia periodically launches a rash of air attacks on kraine as grinding ground battles continue on the front lines in the south and east of the country.
The latest wave came a day after two of Kiev’s most vital arms suppliers - the nited States and ermany - said they would send heavy tanks to help krainian forces retake areas conquered by Russia early in the 11-month-old invasion.
The Kremlin said the West is increasingly making itself a party to the war.
“Everything the alliance and the capitals of Europe and the nited States do is perceived in Moscow as direct involvement in the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
Moscow has repeatedly accused the S and the European nion of waging a proxy war against Russia in kraine. Nevertheless, Russia would not declare war against them, Peskov said.
Russia continues to call the invasion of kraine a “special military operation,” and its status will not change, he said.