Sunday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy — “Russia Must Be Held Accountable” Over Mass Killings of Civilians

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1443 GMT:

A Russian strike on Monday afternoon has killed a child in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine.

Chernihiv Governor Viacheslav Chaus said a shuttered educational facility was struck just after 3:30 p.m. The child was slain nearby.

UPDATE 1418 GMT:

Russia fired seven missiles on Pavlohrad early Monday in the attack which seriously injured two women and wounded at least 33 others.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhii Lysak said some missiles were intercepted but others struck an industrial facility and a residential neighborhood where 19 apartment buildings, 25 homes, six schools and five shops were damaged.

Three other areas in the region were hit, damaging residential buildings and a school.

Ukraine Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said some people in Dnipropetrovsk, as well as almost 20,000 in the Kherson region,, are without power. The damage will take several days to repair.

UPDATE 0835 GMT:

The latest Russian shelling across the Kherson region in southern Ukraine has killed a civilian and wounded three others, including a child.

Residential areas in the region were attacked 39 times with 163 shells.

UPDATE 0829 GMT:

UK military intelligence reports on extensive Russian defense lines built in anticipation of a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

The analysts note the lines are not just near frontline but deep inside Russian-occupied territory, notably the northern border of Crimea. There are also “hundreds of miles of trenches” inside Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions.

UPDATE 0824 GMT:

The first serious casualties have been reported from this morning’s Russian missile strikes.

Two women are in intensive care in Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region. They are among 34 injured, including five children, in the strikes on residential areas and an ammunition depot at a railway station.

UPDATE 0710 GMT:

As the Kremlin replaces yet more commanders, the Institute for the Study of War summarizes:

Vladimir Putin’s regular command changes have led to an increasingly factionalized Russian military and disorganized command structures that are degrading the Russian military’s ability to conduct a cohesive campaign in Ukraine.

On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the dismissal of Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, the Deputy Defense Minister in charge of logistics. He has been replaced by Alexei Kuzmenkov, a former official from the National Guard.

Last week the Kremlin suddenly demoted the commander of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, Adm. Sergey Avakyants, reassigning him to the headquarters for military sports training and patriotic education centers.

The ISW notes that Putin further hampered his invasion by launching the assault in February 2022 “without a clear and doctrinal command structure”. He also refused appoint an overall commander for the operations, with “lasting effects on the structure of the Russian command in Ukraine”.

The first overall commander, Army Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, was named in April 2022, after Russia failed to overrun Kyiv and was withdrawing from northern Ukraine.. He only lasted until the end of May.

Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, only assumed overall command in January 2023.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s air defenses have downed 15 of 18 Russian missiles In Moscow’s second wave of strikes in four days.

The attack began at 2:30 a.m. Monday and lasted about three hours. All missiles fired on Kiev were intercepted, with no reports of casualties or damage to infrastructure.

Seven missiles were downed in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine, but 25 people, including three children, sought medical help after being struck with debris.

Video on social media also indicated that warehouses with ammunition were strick at a railway depot in the city of Pavlohrad. There were secondary detonations and a large fire.

An industrial zone, 19 apartment buildings, and 25 homes were also damaged and destroyed.

Air defenses also operated in Sumy in the north.

On Friday, Russia fired 23 Kalibr cruise missiles in its first wave of strikes since March 9. All but two missiles were downed, but one destroyed a 9-story apartment block in Uman in central Ukraine, killing 23 people, including six children.

A mother and her 2-year-old child were also slain in Dnipro.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke on Saturday night about the mass killing:

Anyone who prepares such missile attacks cannot but know that he will be an accomplice in the murder. Anyone who guides and launches missiles, who handles planes and ships for terror.

Not only those who give orders but all of you: you are all terrorists and murderers and you must all be punished.