Horror and fear struck the village of Groza, in the east of the country, on Thursday. 51 people including a child were killed by a Russian strike on the sidelines of the funeral of a Ukrainian soldier. The day after this strike, Moscow claimed to have shot down eight Ukrainian drones in western Russia on Thursday evening without mentioning any possible damage or injuries.
51 dead in Russian strike on the sidelines of funerals
The horror even during a funeral. 51 people including a child were killed Thursday by a Russian strike in Groza, a small village in eastern Ukraine, on the sidelines of the funeral of a Ukrainian soldier. “My son has just been taken out, without a head, without arms, without legs… He was recognized thanks to his identity papers, his driving license,” a man told Agence France Presse (AFP).
Among the victims of the strike are the wife and son of the Ukrainian soldier killed in combat whose funeral was being celebrated, according to a spokesperson for the regional prosecutor’s office cited by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in Spain for a meeting with European leaders, denounced an “inhumane terrorist attack” against this town located in the Kharkiv region, near Kupiansk, a town close to the front line which is regularly the target of Russian strikes.
The bombing of Groza was carried out with an Iskander ballistic missile according to preliminary data, and completely destroyed a store and a cafe located in the same building when around sixty people were there, described the Minister of Defense. Interior Igor Klymenko on national television.
“Clear agreements with the Europeans”
“It is not possible to protect people from such attacks […] only with the help of anti-aircraft defense”, affirmed Volodymyr Zelensky who spoke of the delivery to Ukraine of a new American Patriot system. On Thursday, he claimed to have received “clear agreements” from the Europeans to receive more anti-aircraft systems and artillery, after a summit in Granada, Spain.
“We will have more air defense – the agreements are clear. This is very important before winter. Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain – thank you!”, he said in his daily message broadcast on social networks.
The governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov, who reported Thursday evening that drones had been shot down – particularly in the administrative capital – indicated that “according to initial data, (there are) no victims”.
Strike on the sidelines of funeral: Germany “will do everything” so that Ukraine can protect itself
Germany will do “everything possible” so that “Ukraine can protect itself from the terror of Putin’s missiles”, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reacted Thursday on X (ex-Twitter) after the strike on a village in eastern Ukraine which left 51 dead. Earlier in Granada, Spain, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany was working to supply a new Patriot air defense system to Ukraine for the winter period.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his part denounced Thursday the “depravity” of the Russian soldiers after the strike on a village in eastern Ukraine which left 51 dead on the sidelines of a funeral, according to Downing Street. “Russian atrocities are reaching an even more sinister level,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.
Eight Ukrainian drones shot down in western Russia, Moscow says
Moscow said it shot down eight Ukrainian drones in western Russia on Thursday evening without mentioning any possible damage or injuries. Thursday around 11:30 p.m. local time, “air defense systems in service destroyed five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Belgorod region”, bordering Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry communicated on Telegram early Friday.
Earlier in the night, the ministry had counted two other vehicles shot down in the same territory. An eighth aircraft suffered the same fate in the Kursk region, also bordering Ukraine, Russian Defense announced Thursday evening.
Ukraine says it shot down 25 drones
Ukraine claimed to have shot down 25 of the 33 attack drones launched by Russia, which carries out daily nightly bombings of its neighbor, across the country during the night from Thursday to Friday.
Anti-aircraft defense destroyed “25 Shahed 131/136, in the regions of Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr,” the Air Force said in a statement on Telegram.
Putin judges that Ukraine would not have a week to live without Western weapons
Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated Thursday that Ukraine would only have “a week to live” without deliveries of Western weapons, on which kyiv depends for its military effort. “When the stocks of weapons (Western weapons delivered to Ukraine) are exhausted, they will only have a week to live,” Mr. Putin declared at the Valdai international forum, estimating that the stocks “are running out also in Europe.
‘Pieces of grenade’ found in bodies of Wagner boss’s plane crash victims
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that “pieces of grenades” were found in the bodies of victims of the August crash of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane, which “did not suffer any external impact.” .
“The head of the Investigative Committee reported to me a few days ago. Fragments of grenades were found in the bodies of the victims of the air disaster. There was no external impact on the “airplane,” Vladimir Putin said at the international forum in Valdai, Russia.