Missile strikes on Ukraine as Russian forces storm frontline town

Sunday, 20 October 2024 16:13

By Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter

Missile strikes on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown have injured 17 people, as Russian forces in the east are reportedly storming a town as they push to gain control of the whole of the Donbas.

A police officer and a rescue worker were among those wounded in the strikes on the central city of Kryvyi Rih.

Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the attack damaged 15 apartment buildings, stores, a cafe, a church, office spaces, a bank branch and a gas pipeline.

Elsewhere, around 10 drones were destroyed near the capital, Kyiv, while one civilian was killed and 11 injured when the town of Shotska came under attack from guided bombs and drones.

Russia denies that it targets civilians but has regularly fired missiles and drones at towns and cities far behind the front lines.

Russian forces attacking Selydove

In eastern Ukraine where Russian soldiers have been advancing, Kremlin forces are fighting street-to-street battles with Ukrainian defenders in the town of Selydove, according to pro-Russian bloggers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to gain full control of Ukraine's Donbas region, which is where the thrust of Russia's advance has been taking place in recent months.

"Street by street fighting is going on in the town," according to Yuri Podolyaka, a prominent Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. "The assault on Selydove has intensified."

Russian forces have been surrounding towns in the Donetsk region and slowly constricting them until Ukrainian forces are forced to withdraw. It's being reported the same is happening in Selydove, which had a pre-war population of more than 20,000.

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Drone flying towards Moscow shot down

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces struck an airfield in Russia's Lipetsk region and an explosives-manufacturing enterprise in the Nizhny Novgorod region, its military said.

The explosives plant is one of the largest manufacturers of its kind used by Russian forces in the war and has been subject to Western sanctions.

Air defence units shot down 110 Ukrainian drones over Russia, according to the country's defence ministry, including one over the Moscow region.

Sky News