RUSSIAN ATTACK WOUNDS 73, KILLS OFFICER
A Russian missile attack Friday on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown killed one police officer and wounded at least 73 people, including nine police officers, Ukrainian officials said. Another attack in the southern Kherson region killed three people.
The strikes were among multiple Russian attacks across the country overnight, officials said. Meanwhile, Moscow is trying to strengthen its position politically with local elections in the four regions it illegally annexed last year, even though it doesn't fully control any of the four. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it does not recognize the “fake elections.”
The strikes came days after 16 people were killed in a Russian attack on a market in eastern Ukraine and drone debris was found in Romania. The attack, which also wounded 33, turned the market into a fiery, blackened ruin and overshadowed a twoday visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at assessing Ukraine's threemonth-old counteroffensive.
Blinken's visit signaled ongoing U.S. support with the announcement of an additional $1 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Ten buildings were damaged in the attack on Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine on Friday. Nine police officers were among those wounded, according to Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine's Interior Minister. Photos posted by Klymenko on Telegram showed a building on fire, burnt timbers and emergency services evacuating the wounded. By evening, the number of wounded rose to 73, according to the Interior Ministry.
Three people were also killed on Friday after a Russian bomb struck the village of Odradokamianka in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Klymenko said.
Meanwhile, Russia is holding local elections in the part of the Kherson region it controls. Local elections are also being held in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Voting for federal and local legislators is also under way in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Voting concludes on Sunday.
In Kherson, local residents and Ukrainian activists say election poll workers have made house calls accompanied by armed soldiers.
Ukraine has dismissed the elections, calling on its allies to condemn Russia's actions and urging them not to recognize any administration created as a result of the votes.