Russia ‘suffers its deadliest day as 1,000 troops die’
NEARLY 1,000 Russian soldiers have reportedly been killed in one day in Ukraine, marking the deadliest day for Vladimir Putin since his troops invaded eight months ago.
Ukrainian forces have been making gains across Russianoccupied areas, with fighting intensifying in the east of the country and in the southern city of Kherson.
Now Ukraine’s ministry of defence has claimed that 950 Russian soldiers were killed on Sunday, pushing the Russian death toll up to at least 71,200.
In another blow to President Putin, a video emerged of panicstricken Russian soldiers fleeing an attack on a tank – only for it to flip over and fling the troops into the air. Footage, apparently from Kherson, showed the troops running towards an armoured vehicle as missiles rained down on them.
The video has raised questions about Russia’s military, with the UK’s Ministry of Defence saying Moscow had deployed several thousand new recruits to the front line who were often ‘poorly equipped’.
It came as Russia unleashed a string of attacks across Ukraine yesterday, leaving much of Kyiv in the dark with no running water.
Air raid sirens wailed across the country just before 7.30am local time as Russia’s armed forces fired as many as 50 cruise missiles at a series of non-military targets – including critical infrastructure.
Around 13 people were injured in the strikes, which blasted ten regions and 18 energy sources.
The attacks left swathes of the capital without electricity while thousands queued across the city to collect water from pumps.
Last night mayor Vitali Klitschko condemned the strikes, saying: ‘Right now, this war has directly impacted the civilian population. [Russia] wants to leave the people without heating, without water, without electricity in the winter.
‘They want to [see] the whole population freezing during the winter in our home town. This is genocide, there’s no other words.’
Moscow claimed that the strikes were in retaliation to an alleged attack on its Black Sea fleet this weekend which it blames – without evidence – on Ukraine.
It came as Joe Biden reportedly lost his temper with Ukraine’s president and told him to be appreciative of military aid.
In a tense phone call in June, Volodymyr Zelensky allegedly interrupted the US President to list ‘all the additional help he needed and wasn’t getting’. Mr Biden, who had been promising another $1billion of military aid, reportedly raised his voice to say his administration was working hard. Sources told NBC News that the leaders’ relationship has improved since then.
‘They want to see us all freezing’