Rescuers carry the body of 10-year-old Tymofii after a Russian missile in Kharkiv, October 6, 2023 (Vitalii Hnidyi/Reuters)

Friday’s Coverage: Russia’s Mass Killing at A Memorial Service2023

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1524 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken about today’s air and ground attacks by Gazan organization Hamas on southern Israel.

He said the government has established an operational headquarters in Israel to aid any of the estimated 15,000 Ukrainian refugees.

UPDATE 1506 GMT:

An official of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party has been killed in a car explosion in Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Vladimir Malov, the executive secretary of United Russia in Nova Kakhovka, died in hospital, said Russian proxy “governor” Vladimir Saldo.

No one has claimed responsibility; however, Ukrainian partisans have carried out a series of attacks against Russian proxy officials in the south of the country.

UPDATE 1504 GMT:

The latest Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine has killed at least one woman in the village of Bilenke.

The head of the regional military administration, Yuriy Malashko, said a private house and outbuildings were damaged.

Malashko posted that Russian forces launched 113 attacks on 20 towns and villages in 24 hours, with 102 artillery shells, four anti-aircraft missile, and five drones.

Two men in Orikhiv, including one age 82, were wounded.

UPDATE 0752 GMT:

Among the 52 civilians killed by Russia’s missile strike on Hroza in northeast Ukraine on Thursday were every immediate family member of Andriy Kozyr, the soldier who was being reburied in the village.

Hroza had a population of 330 people, but the number has fallen to 150 during Russia’s invasion.

“Everybody died,” said resident Petro Krasevych, pointing to several houses left ownerless by the strike. “Now [the street] is an empty house with a cow.”

Krasevych and his wife, close friends of Kozyr’s family, had intended to attend the memorial ceremony. However, Ms. Krasevych was recently diagnosed with cancer.

“God protected us,” Krasevych said.

UPDATE 0725 GMT:

The independent Russian outlet Mediazone speaks with Olga Shchekina, an actress in a puppet theater, who has been fined and threatened with physical harm becausse she posted TikTok videos which included songs in Ukrainian.

Shchekina, from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, was convicted of “violating the integrity of the Russian Federation and the demonstration of Nazi symbols” by a Donetsk court which fined her 77,000 rubles.

After the videos circulated on pro-Russian social media pages, Shchekina was told her spine would be broken if she did not “get the fuck out of here”.

UPDATE 0716 GMT:

Russian forces have fired Onyx anti-ship missiles on the Odesa region of southern Ukraine, damaging residential buildings, a boarding house, and a granary.

The Ukraine military said the missiles were launched from Russian-occupied Crimea.

An initial assessment says four people are injured.

UPDATE 0707 GMT:

The independent Russian outlet Mediazona and BBC Russian have confirmed the names of 33,904 Russian troops who have been killed during Vladimir Putin’s 19 1/2-month invasion of Ukraine.

Mediazona has added almost 1,250 names to the list since September 22.

The list is compiled from public sources, including social media posts from relatives, local news reports, and confirmation from local authorities. Mediazona notes that the actual number of Russian casualties is likely to be far higher.

UPDATE 0602 GMT:

Ukraine has seized more than $464 million in assets from Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, and Andrey Kosogov.

The State security service SBU said the businessmen are considered a part of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and have contributed “large-scale financing” to the Russian invasion.

The seizure order applied applied to 20 companies and financial institutions owned by men as “ultimate beneficiaries” or through controlled offshore companies. They include mobile operators, a mineral water producer, and financial and insurance companies.

UPDATE 0559 GMT:

Ukraine and Russia have exchanged remains of soldiers killed in the 19 1/2-month Russian invasion, said Ukraine’s Coordinating Agency for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The bodies of 64 Ukrainian service members have been repatriated.

The Agency said almost 1,900 slain Ukrainian soldiers have now been returned.

UPDATE 0552 GMT:

The US Commerce Department has added 42 Chinese companies to an export control list because of their support for Russia’s military and defense industry.

Seven entities from Finland, Germany, India, Turkey, the UAE, and the UK were also added to list.

The Department said components supplied to RUssia include microelectronics for precision guidance systems in missiles and drones.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia has killed a 68-year-old woman and her 10-year-old grandson in a missile strike on residential buildings in Kharkiv city in northeast Ukraine.

At least 30 people were injured, including an 11-month-old grandchild of the slain woman, by the impact of the two Iskander missiles.

Videos of the aftermath of the attack showed badly burnt buildings and the charred remains of a car as smoke rose into the sky.

Oleh Bychko, the father of the killed 10-year-old Tymofiy, said he pulled his younger son and wife out of the rubble. His face scratched and his clothes covered in blood, he stood in shock as rescue efforts continued.

The strike was near the site of Thursday’s missile attack on a shop and cafe in Hroza, close to Kupyansk, which killed at least 52 people and injured six.

The Russians also injured three people, including a 76-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman in Vovchansk.