Drone kills two in a strike on a Ukrainian minibus
In a sign of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, two people were killed when a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in the latest barrage of civilian areas.
Regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said seven people were injured in the attack.
Hours later, Russia attacked another minibus in Kherson and the driver was injured, he said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine recorded “rather unusual” activity on its northern border with Belarus on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Telegram post on Saturday.
Without going into details, he said that there was activity on the Belarusian side of the border and that Ukraine would take action if the events escalated.
“We are closely documenting the situation and keeping it under control. We will react if necessary,” he said.
Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin, has allowed Russia to use its territory as a staging area for sending troops to Ukraine and hosting some of Moscow’s tactical nuclear weapons.
A Russian attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast damaged the port infrastructure of the city of Odesa. There was no loss of life.
Ukrainian civilians have been subjected to incessant air strikes since Russia launched a large-scale invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago.
U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kiev last year stalled after Russia rejected Ukraine’s ceasefire offer, and the Iran war in recent weeks has diverted international attention from Ukraine’s plight.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed on Saturday that it had taken control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region along a nearly 1,250-kilometer front line.
It was not possible to independently verify the battlefield claims and Ukraine did not immediately comment.
Local authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said the fire that broke out on Friday following an attack on an oil terminal in Ukraine’s Black Sea city of Tuapse was extinguished on Saturday.
Ukrainian drones struck the oil refinery and export terminal in Tuapse four times in just over two weeks, sparking fires that prompted local evacuations and created large plumes of smoke.
Ukraine has stepped up long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities in a bid to cut off oil exports, the main source of financing for Moscow’s crushing invasion.
However, its economic impact is unclear so far, as the rise in oil prices due to the Iran war and the resulting easing of US sanctions have helped fill the Kremlin’s coffers.
