Damage to an apartment block from a Russian missile strike on a nearby playground in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, July 19, 2024
Saturday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy Speaks With Trump
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1056 GMT:
A Russian missile damaged critical infrastructure in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine early Sunday, said the military administration.
The officials did not give details of the damage in the Shostkynskyi district.
Earlier, the Ukraine Air Force said two of five Russian missiles were intercepted.
UPDATE 0731 GMT:
On the authority of the European Union, Euroclear will transfer €1.55 billion ($1.69 billion) in interest from frozen Russian assets to the European Fund for Ukraine this month.
The EU authorized the use of the interest in May, drawing from €211 billion ($230 billion) that Russia holds in Europe.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed last month that the first €1.5 billion in revenue would be transferred to Ukraine as early as July. She said 90% of the funds will be allocated to defense, while the remaining 10% will be directed towards reconstruction efforts.
UPDATE 0556 GMT:
The Ukraine Air Force says it intercepted 35 of 39 attack drones fired by Russian overnight.
The Russians also launched five missiles from the Kursk region in southwest Russia and from occupied Crimea. The Air Force said two Kh-59/Kh-69 missiles were intercepted, but did not give the outcome for Iskander-Ms.
Air defenses were active in 10 regions: Sumy, Poltava, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Cherkasy.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Kyiv repelled a Russian drone assault early Sunday, downing all 13 UAVs.
But the Russians killed at least three civilians in the northeast and south of Ukraine on Saturday.
Twelve of the attack drones in the Kyiv assault were Iran-made Shaheds, thousands of which have been used by Russia in their incessant strikes on infrastructure, energy supplies, and other civilian areas.
However, the Ukraine Air Force said Russian forces also used a new unidentified drone, flying at an altitude of 20-30 meters.
The UAV has “a possible wingspan of more than 4 meters, beam plumage, a push rotor, and a square fuselage,” Ukrainian officials said.
On Saturday, two men, 48 and 69, were slain in a missile attack around 3:15 a.m. on the town of Barvinkove in the Kharkiv region in the northeast. About 50 buildings were damaged in the strike, which was apparently by three Iskander ballistic missiles. Another strike hit an agricultural business in the village of Oleksiivka.
A 44-year-old man perished in artillery shelling on the city of Nikopol in south-central Ukraine.
The death toll rose to four from Friday’s Russian missile attack on a playground in Mykolaiv in the south, as an injured man died in hospital.
The earlier victims were a 12-year-old boy, an elderly woman, and another man. At least 12 others were injured.
The attack hit a residential area, damaging 19 residential buildings, a kindergarten, and numerous cars.