The Ukrainian capital has been the target of the fifteenth Russian attack since the beginning of May. A dozen explosions were heard Monday morning in the center of kyiv, shortly after the triggering of aerial sirens in the capital, AFP journalists noted. “Explosions in the city, in central districts,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram. “The air defense is in action,” said the kyiv military administration.
This happens less than twenty-four hours after suffering its largest surge of drones since the start of the conflict. With their repeated bombardments, the Russians “seek to exhaust the Ukrainian air defense” and to “maintain the civilian population in a state of deep psychological tension”, for its part estimated the military administration of Kiev. Ukraine has been preparing for months a major counter-offensive against Russian troops who occupy vast territories in the south and east of the country.
kyiv hit again by drones and missiles
Kiev was hit again last night and this morning by explosive drones and missiles, according to military authorities, less than 24 hours after suffering its largest drone attack since the start of the war. “More than 40 air targets have been detected and destroyed by our air defense. The attacks on Kyiv have been repelled,” Kyiv’s civil and military administration said on its Telegram channel. Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram: “Explosions in the city, in central neighborhoods.”
Olexander Scherba, ambassador for strategic communications at Ukraine’s foreign ministry and former Austrian ambassador to Ukraine, said on Twitter that he was at the ministry’s offices in Kyiv when the blasts happened. He said they felt “really close”, but there was no visible destruction in the city.
This attack, the fifteenth targeting the Ukrainian capital since the beginning of May, was carried out using cruise missiles launched by TU-95MS strategic bombers and explosive drones, she said. According to her, “with these constant attacks, the enemy seeks to keep the civilian population in a state of deep psychological tension”. The roof of a building was damaged by falling debris, according to the same source, who also posted a photo of a hole in what appears to be a corrugated iron roof. “There are no dead or injured,” the mayor of kyiv said on Telegram.
Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, two people were killed and three others injured in what Ukrainian authorities called “the most significant drone attack” on Kiev since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. According to Ukrainian General Staff, 58 of the 59 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched on the capital that night were shot down.
A military site in western Ukraine hit by a Russian strike
A military site in western Ukraine was hit by a Russian strike overnight, the Khmelnytsky regional administration said in a rare public statement on Monday. “Russian troops hit several sites including a military one in the Khmelnytsky region,” the administration said on Telegram. She reported “fires in fuel depots” and military equipment and a damaged airstrip. “Work to contain the fires continues,” she added. She gave no figures on possible victims, merely saying that this information was “being clarified”.
Ukraine says it shot down all 11 Iskander missiles launched by Russia on Monday
The Ukrainian army shot down all 11 Russian Iskander missiles launched by Russia on Monday morning, Ukrainian army commander-in-chief Valery Zalouzhny said in a statement. “A total of 11 Iskander-M and Iskander-K type missiles were launched from the north” on kyiv and its region, he said on Telegram. “The anti-aircraft defense destroyed all the targets,” added Valéry Zaloujny.
Ukraine says it shot down 37 missiles and 29 Russian drones overnight
Ukraine has intercepted 37 Russian cruise missiles and 29 combat drones during a new night attack on Moscow, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army Valery Zaluzhny said on Monday. “Last night, the occupiers attacked military sites and those of critical infrastructure in Ukraine” by launching “up to 40 cruise missiles” from planes over the Caspian and “about 35 drones” from the North and South, he said on Telegram.
Ukraine said on Sunday that it had countered “the most important drone attack” on Kiev “since the start of the Russian invasion”, which however left two dead and three injured, Volodymyr Zelensky hailing “the heroes” of anti-aircraft defence. “The Russian Federation has carried out another massive attack on the territory of Ukraine” using Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Ukrainian forces’ general staff said at the end of the day, according to which 58 of these 59 devices explosives were knocked down.
Zelensky congratulates Erdogan, hopes for “strengthening” of ties between Ukraine and Türkiye
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his re-election as head of Turkey, hoping for a “strengthening” of ties between their two countries and their “cooperation for security and stability” in Europe. “We hope for a further strengthening of the strategic partnership for the benefit of our two countries as well as the strengthening of our cooperation for the security and stability of Europe,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter.
Ukrainian Kostyuk shocked by boos at Roland-Garros
“People should be ashamed!” Booed Sunday at Roland Garros for refusing to shake hands with her Belarusian rival, the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk did not understand the hostile attitude of part of the French public. “What happened today, I must admit that I did not expect it,” reacted the player, beaten by world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2.
“When I was in the UK last year, people reacted differently, even on the streets. I felt very supported,” recalled the player, whose last trip to Ukraine was in March. Born twenty years ago in Kiev, a city where her father and grandfather still live and where two people died in a Russian drone attack the night before the match, according to the report of the Ukrainian authorities, Marta Kostyuk blames the ATP and WTA for being too accommodating to Russian and Belarusian players.
Many international federations have banned Russians and Belarusians from their competitions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but with the exception of the selection competitions (Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup), they can participate in professional tennis circuits, under a neutral banner.
Russian-American artist Ilya Kabakov dies at 89
Russian-American contemporary artist Ilya Kabakov died on Saturday at the age of 89, the Ilya and Emilia Kabakov Foundation announced overnight from Saturday to Sunday on social networks. “The man who spent his life imagining utopia left this world on Saturday May 27, surrounded by his loved ones, at the dawn of his 90th birthday,” the foundation announced in a statement posted on Facebook, without specify the place of residence and death of the artist.
“The family will organize a private funeral followed by a public memorial service in several weeks”, it is specified, asking that “instead of flowers”, donations be made for the benefit of the “Vessel of Tolerance “, a work created by the artist and his wife to promote peace and tolerance between peoples. “It is with great emotion that we learn today of the disappearance of Ilya Iossifovich Kabakov, an essential artist for more than 70 years”, reacted in a press release the Center Pompidou, in which Ilya Kabakov had exhibited in 1995 for several months his installation “This is where we live”.