Kyiv Shaken By Massive Russian Strikes (Worthy News Radio)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Explosions shook Ukraine’s capital Sunday as Russia launched dozens of drones on Kyiv, killing at least one person, officials said. Elsewhere in the wartorn nation, the death toll from Friday’s Russian missile strike on a clinic in the eastern city of Dnipro rose from two to four people ahead of an imminent Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Residents were supposed to celebrate the city’s founding 1541 years ago. But instead, Kyiv Day was overshadowed overnight on Sunday by relentless Russian drone strikes hitting the Ukrainian capital. Air raid sirens wailed across the city of nearly 3 million people.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko already confirmed the death of a 41-year-old man. He was killed by falling debris of Russian drones being shot out of the air as the Kremlin launched 54 drones on Kyiv. A 35-year-old woman was also injured by the fall of the drone’s wreckage in the Solomianskyi district.
Ukraine’s air force said it had downed 52 of the 54 drones during a “record” attack by the Iranian-made Shaheds, or killer drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has now asked parliament to impose 50 years-long sanctions on Iran because of Tehran’s role in supplying Russia with drones and military equipment for its invasion of his country.
Elsewhere in this wartorn nation, people are mourning in the eastern city of Dnipro, where the civilian death toll from a Russian missile attack on a clinic has reportedly risen from two to four people.
STRIKING BACK
However, Ukraine pledged Sunday to strike back in this already devastating armed conflict.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said preliminary operations have begun for a counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces.
The commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi has raised expectations that a major operation could be imminent. In a dramatic video, he says a prayer and adds that in his words, “The time has come to take back what’s ours.”
Zaluzhnyi’s declaration was accompanied by a cinematic video showing heavily armed Ukrainian soldiers preparing for battle.
But the Russian ambassador to Britain, Andrei Kelin, has already warned that Russia has, in his words, “enormous resources” and hasn’t “just started yet to act very seriously.”
He also defended the recent detention of U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich on spying charges and the 25-year prison sentence for Russian journalist and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza. His crime? Openly opposing the war.
With hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured, people on both sides may be forgiven for saying there are no winners in Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War.
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