5 Dead and 8 Injured in Exchanges of Strikes between Russia and Ukraine

SadaNews - The exchanges of Russian and Ukrainian strikes resulted in 5 deaths and 8 injuries on Wednesday, marking the latest escalation in the conflict that has persisted since February 2022.

Ukrainian authorities announced that a Russian strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, led to the death of a 77-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman, in addition to injuring a 53-year-old woman.

The governor of the city, Oleksandr Ganjha, stated that the attack caused damage to several buildings, while Kryvyi Rih is located about 80 kilometers from the front lines, and is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It has been subjected to repeated Russian strikes since the onset of the invasion.

In contrast, Russian authorities reported the deaths of three people and injuries to eight others in a Ukrainian drone strike that targeted an oil facility in the southern Krasnodar region, specifically in the village of Volna, where four oil storage tanks caught fire.

Videos from the scene showed damage to residential building facades and several burned vehicles, as rescue teams began their operations.

A Ukrainian official confirmed that some of the damages were caused by the Russian air defense missiles themselves, pointing out that a residential building in the village of Aivazovsky in the Adygea region was hit. Neither side provided clear evidence of the other's responsibility for the losses.

The southern Russian region near the Black Sea has been subjected to repeated Ukrainian attacks, while Moscow claims to have shot down 75 Ukrainian drones on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, 45 of which were flying over the Krasnodar region.

Kyiv clarified that its attacks are focused on Russian energy facilities that fund the war, while Russia insists that Ukraine must abandon its attempts to join Western military alliances as a precondition for ending its attacks on Ukraine, which Ukraine considers an interference in its affairs.