WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
At least 14 killed, 37 wounded in Russian missile strike on Ukraine, Kyiv says
At least 14 people were killed and 37 wounded, including five children, in Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's eastern city of Dobropillia and a settlement in Kharkiv region overnight, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
Russian forces attacked Dobropillia with ballistic missiles, multiple rockets, and drones, causing damage to eight multi-storey buildings and 30 vehicles, according to the ministry. The assault resulted in the deaths of 11 people, including five children, and left 30 others wounded.
The ministry also reported that three civilians were killed and seven wounded in a separate drone attack on the Kharkiv region in the northeast.
"Such strikes show that Russia's objectives have not changed. Therefore, it is crucial to continue to do our best to protect lives, strengthen our air defences, and increase sanctions against Russia. Everything that helps Putin finance the war must collapse," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Facebook.
On Friday, Russian forces damaged Ukrainian energy and gas infrastructure in their first major missile attack since the U.S. paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, piling pressure on Kyiv as President Donald Trump seeks a swift end to the war.
The pause in U.S. military aid and intelligence may undermine Ukraine's air defences as it runs low on advanced missiles and struggles to track attacks as effectively, military analysts say.
Dobropillia, home to about 28,000 people before the war, is in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, 22 kilometres (13.67 miles) from the front line north of the key hub of Pokrovsk, which the Russian troops have been attacking for weeks.
FIGHTING CONTINUES
Amid U.S. efforts to sit Kyiv and Moscow at the negotiating table, the sides continue to engage in active hostilities in an attempt to gain an advantage.
A tank at Surgutneftegaz's (SNGS.MM) Kirishi oil refinery, one of Russia's largest, was damaged by falling debris during a major Ukrainian overnight drone attack, local official said.
Russian forces, for their part, have in recent weeks stepped up efforts to eject Ukrainian troops from Kursk, when Kyiv's forces staged a lightning incursion over the border and seized a swath of Russian territory in last August.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday its troops retook three villages in the Kursk region from Ukrainian forces.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russian military liberates multiple villages in Kursk Region
Russia has liberated three villages in Kursk Region, marking a new advance against the Ukrainian invasion force in the area, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Saturday.
The villages of Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina are situated on the northernmost tip of the Ukrainian-controlled area in Russia’s Kursk Region. The settlements are located immediately to the west of the village of Malaya Loknya, a major stronghold for the Ukrainian force in the region, and across the eponymous river. The fall of the three villages puts the Ukrainian troops holed up in the area in a more precarious position.
Over the past few days, things have rapidly deteriorated for the Ukrainian force in the area. Russian troops continue pressuring the town of Sudzha, the largest settlement under Kiev’s control in Kursk Region. The invasion force has been experiencing logistics troubles and is now dependent on a single major cross-border road, which has been coming under constant Russian drone and artillery strikes.
This week, multiple media reports suggested that Kiev’s troops were on the brink of encirclement in the area, with between 6,500 and 10,000 soldiers at risk of being cut off completely. All bridges in the vicinity of Sudzha have reportedly been destroyed, while heavy damage to the road infrastructure is hampering the Ukrainian forces’ ability to resupply and, potentially, withdraw from the area.
Kiev launched a surprise invasion of Kursk early in August last year, seizing Sudzha and multiple settlements in its vicinity in a matter of days. Since then, the Ukrainian zone of control has shrunk more than twofold, while Russia has regained control over numerous locations in the area.
The Kursk incursion has taken a heavy toll on the Ukrainian military. More than 65,500 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the area, while some 386 tanks, nearly 300 infantry fighting vehicles, 259 armored personnel carriers, and over 2,000 other armored vehicles have been destroyed or captured, according to the Russian military.
Reuters/RT
