The Russian government attacked the Ukrainian capital again on Friday, the Kremlin said, when it hit a missile factory outside Kiev. This is the first attack since the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region at the end of March, when Moscow said it would concentrate forces in the south and east of the country.
Anti-aircraft alarms sounded several times throughout the night, said Kiev region governor Olexandre Pavliuk. The attack targeted an anti-ship missile manufacturing and repair center, according to the Kremlin itself, in what was understood to be retaliation for the sinking of the warship Moskva, the most important Russian military vessel in the Black Sea, which sank on Thursday. (14).
“The number and scale of missile attacks on targets in Kiev will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kiev nationalist regime,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Russian government claims that two Ukrainian helicopters equipped with heavy weapons entered its territory and fired at least six shots in residential areas in the city of Klimovo, in the province of Briansk. Seven people were injured, including a baby, Moscow says. According to the Ukrainians, however, the Russian secret service promotes terrorist attacks in the region to fuel the conflict.
Friday’s attack on the Neptune missile factory contradicts Moscow’s speech, as the Putin government does not recognize that the Moskva ship was sunk after being hit by Ukrainian missiles, as Kiev says. For Moscow, the sinking occurred after an explosion of ammunition stored on the ship.
The Moskva (“Moscow” in Russian) was by far the largest Russian ship in the Black Sea, equipped with guided missiles to strike the coast and shoot down planes, as well as radar to provide air defense coverage and capacity for over 500 military personnel. The ship gained notoriety early in the war for the attack on Cobra Island, in which 19 Ukrainian sailors were captured and later exchanged for Russian prisoners.
Russia used its naval power to blockade Ukrainian ports. Without its flagship, its ability to threaten Ukraine by sea is hampered, analysts say. No warship of this size has been sunk in conflict since the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, torpedoed by the British in the Falklands War in 1982.
More than five million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, according to figures released on Friday by the United Nations.
For two weeks the capital has not heard explosions as loud as this Friday. Kirill Kirilo, 38, a car repair shop worker, said he saw three explosions hit an industrial building across the street, causing a fire that was later contained by firefighters. “The building was on fire and I had to hide behind my car,” he said, showing pieces of glass and metal that had flown from the burning building.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also said it had captured the Iliich steel company in Mariupol, one of the last remaining industrial areas in the besieged eastern city, which saw the heaviest fighting of the war and the worst humanitarian catastrophe.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had managed to roll back Russian offensives in the cities of Popasna and Rubijne, north of Mariupol. The reports, however, could not be independently confirmed.
Outside Kiev, Moscow now says its main war objective is to capture the Donbass, the eastern region now partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists. According to the Ukrainian government, fighting in Donetsk killed three people and injured seven others on Friday. In Luhansk, in the same region, 24 bombings left two dead and 10 wounded.
The Russians have sent a new column of thousands of troops to the east in what Kiev predicts will be the next major attack in this war. Moscow says it hopes to take all of Mariupol soon.
Russia also said on Friday it had killed 30 Polish mercenaries in a bombing raid in northeast Ukraine, at a time of growing tension between Moscow and Warsaw.
According to the Ukrainian government, the Russians attacked a bus carrying civilians from the eastern region of Kharkiv and killed seven people, in addition to wounding 24. Further south, in the Zaporyjia region, one person was killed and five wounded. in the Russian bombing of the city of Vasilivka.
