Russian attack kills at least one in eastern Ukraine

20/2/2025 9:08

A Russian guided bomb killed at least one person on Wednesday in and around Ukraine's northeastern city of Kupiansk, a key logistics centre subjected to increasing attacks in recent months. Kupiansk, east of Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv, was seized by Russian troops in the early weeks of their February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It was recaptured by Ukrainian troops in a lightning offensive later that year, but has now come under new, intense Russian pressure. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces targeted a residential area of Kupiansk and rescuers retrieved the body of one resident from under rubble. He said two people were injured in an attack on a village south of the city. Prosecutors in the region said two people were killed in the course of the day. Andriy Besedin, head of Kupiansk's military administration, told Ukrainian media outlet Espreso TV on Tuesday that the situation around the town was "very difficult and critical". "The

enemy is constantly shelling the city with all types of weapons and is very close along the entire line, both from the north and the south," Besedin said. Russian troops burst into Kupiansk briefly last November for the first time since Ukrainian forces recaptured it. But the troops were repelled by Ukrainian defenders in the city, which has a pre-war population of 26,000. In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian forces hit a multi-story apartment building with guided bombs, injuring three people and causing serious damage, Roman Mrochko, head of the city's military administration, said on Telegram. Mrochko said rescue efforts continued into the night. Online pictures showed parts of the building reduced to piles of twisted building materials. The injured included 13-year-old twins. Kherson was also captured early in the initial Russian advance and taken back by Ukrainian troops later in 2022.