Russian strike wounds 73 in Zelenskyy’s hometown
Missile attack kills a policeman
KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile attack Friday on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown killed one policeman and wounded at least 73 people, 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.
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. That sparked fears among local residents that the war could spread into the NATO-member country bordering Ukraine.
Ten buildings were damaged in the attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine. Nine policemen 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 Friday after a Russian bomb struck the village of Odradokamianka in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Klymenko said.
Also Friday, a funeral was held for an 18-year-old who was among 16 people killed Wednesday in a Russian attack on a market in Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The attack, which also wounded 33, turned the market into a fiery, blackened ruin and overshadowed a two-day visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at assessing Ukraine’s three-monthold counteroffensive.
Blinken’s visit signaled ongoing U.S. support with the announcement of an additional $1 billion in aid to Ukraine.
The war continued to raise difficult questions for other nations trying to manage the war’s fallout on food security, inflation and other matters.
Britain announced Friday it will host a global food security summit in November in response to Russia’s withdrawal from a Black Sea grain deal and attacks on Ukraine’s grain supply.
The announcement came as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in India for a Group of 20 summit, where he hopes to marshal international resources to counteract the war’s impact on the global food supply.
Sunak’s government said Royal Air Force aircraft will fly over the Black Sea as part of efforts to deter Russia from striking cargo ships transporting grain from Ukraine.
“We will use our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to monitor Russian activity in the Black Sea, call out Russia if we see warning signs that they are preparing attacks on civilian shipping or infrastructure in the Black Sea, and attribute attacks to prevent false-flag claims that seek to deflect blame from Russia,” the U.K. government said.