Russia ‘destroys’ allies’ machinery

RUSSIA has said its military destroyed tanks donated by Ukraine’s allies and other armour in a barrage of missile strikes that shattered five weeks of eerie calm in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv yesterday.

There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine.

In a post on the Telegram app, the Russian ministry said high-precision, long-range air-launched missiles were used to attack the outskirts of Kyiv and destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by eastern European countries and other armoured vehicles.

Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said the missile strikes hit the Darnytski and Dniprovski districts in the city.

No deaths were reported, but one person was injured.

The attack shattered a sense of calm in Kyiv, which had not seen similar strikes since the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 28.

In the Darnytski district of eastern Kviv, soldiers and police blocked off a main road as smoke billowed from the charred and blackened wreckage of a warehouse-type structure.

Elsewhere, Russian forces continued their push in eastern Ukraine, with missile and air strikes carried out in the Luhansk region.

A total of 13 houses were damaged in Girske, and five in Lysychansk.

Another air strike was reported in the eastern city of Kramatorsk by its mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko. No one was killed in the attack.

Yesterday, Ukraine’s General Staff accused Russia of using phosphorus munitions in the Kharkiv region and said Moscow continues to carry out missile and air strikes on military and civilian infrastructure.

The update also confirmed strikes on Kyiv early yesterday morning.

The General Staff said Russian forces were continuing assault operations in Sievierodonetsk in the eastern Luhansk region, one of two key cities left to be captured there.

Wreckage lies along a street at a railway service facility hit by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine