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Russian Artillery Attack Kills 10 Ukrainian Civilians. PHOTOS/TASS
KIEV – Long range bombing Russia killed at least 10 civilians and injured another 20 in several parts Ukraine , said officials in Kiev. A Kremlin official admitted that Russian forces are ready to repel Ukrainian counterattacks throughout this spring.
As reported by AP, five people were killed in Kostiantynivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province, when a Russian missile hit a relief center. Prosecutors said the Russians attacked with an S-300 anti-aircraft missile. The civilians who died were refugees, according to the Governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
“As most of the artillery warfare in the winter months enters its second spring, Russian troops are also using air-launched missiles, exploding drones and launching bombs to attack some areas,” said Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat.
Two civilians were killed and nine others injured in the town of Bilopillia in Sumy province by overnight rocket and artillery attacks and airstrikes, officials in the northeastern region said.
In southern Ukraine, Russian shelling killed one person in the city of Kherson and killed one person and injured four in the city of Bilozerka. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the region Thursday.
Ukrainian forces are poised to use the arrival of warmer weather and new weapons from the West, including tanks, for a counteroffensive aimed at driving Russian troops out of occupied areas.
But Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and now deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said his troops were ready to repel any counterattack. “Our General Staff is assessing all of that,” Medvedev said.
He added that any attempt by Ukraine to seize Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, could trigger a nuclear response from Moscow.
“Attempts to separate parts of the country mean encroaching on the existence of the state,” he said. “Obviously, that guarantees the use of any weapon. I hope our ‘friends’ across the ocean realize that,” he continued.
(esn)
