Two individuals lost their lives in a minibus targeted by a Russian drone in Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, according to local authorities on Saturday. This incident is part of a series of attacks on civilian areas, which have become a defining feature of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Seven people were injured in the attack, as reported by regional head Oleksandr Prokudin. Subsequently, another minibus in Kherson was attacked by Russia, resulting in injuries to the driver.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted “rather unusual” activities along the northern border with Belarus on Friday. He mentioned observing activity on the Belarusian side of the border, without providing specific details, and affirmed that Ukraine is monitoring the situation closely and will respond if necessary.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has permitted Moscow to use its territory to deploy troops into Ukraine and to store some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.
In Odesa, a city on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, Russian strikes caused damage to port infrastructure, although there were no reported casualties. Ukrainian civilians have been enduring continuous air attacks since Russia initiated a full-scale invasion over four years ago.
Despite U.S.-mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv over the past year, there has been no relief, with Russia rejecting Ukraine’s ceasefire proposal. Additionally, the conflict in Iran has diverted international focus away from Ukraine’s situation in recent weeks.
On the approximately 1,250-kilometre front line, Russia asserted on Saturday that it had gained control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.
In another development, a fire that resulted from a Ukrainian strike on an oil terminal in the Black Sea town of Tuapse was extinguished by local officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region. Ukrainian drones have targeted the oil refinery and export terminal in Tuapse four times in slightly over two weeks, leading to fires that necessitated evacuations and caused significant smoke emissions.
Ukraine has intensified its long-distance assaults on Russian oil facilities to diminish Moscow’s oil exports, a crucial revenue source for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. However, the economic repercussions remain uncertain, as the surge in oil prices due to the Iran conflict and a subsequent relaxation of U.S. sanctions have aided in refilling the Kremlin’s financial resources.