Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital has been attacked from the air by Russia for the ninth time this month. Loud explosions resounded in Kyiv early Thursday, May 18, 2023, morning, and the city’s Military Administration disclosed that falling debris caused a fire in a non-residential building.
Blasts were also heard in central regions of Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky and Zhytomyr.
According to Serhiy Popko, Head of the Kyiv Military Administration, the attack was carried out by strategic bombers from the Caspian region, probably using cruise missiles, and Russia later deployed reconnaissance craft over the capital. Preliminary information indicated that all enemy targets were destroyed.
Debris fell on two districts and the fire at a garage complex was extinguished. There was no information so far about any victims, Popko said.
The cruise missiles used on Thursday were apparently X-101 and x-55 types developed during Soviet times.
In the southern region of Odesa, one person died and two were wounded in a Russian missile attack, Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, noted on Telegram.
“Most of the enemy’s missiles were shot down over the sea by the Air Defense Forces. Unfortunately, an industrial object was hit: 1 person died, two were injured,” Bratchuk said.
It was the ninth time this month that Russian air raids have targeted the capital. On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, Ukrainian air defenses, bolstered by sophisticated Western-supplied systems, countered an intense Russian air attack on Kyiv, shooting down all missiles aimed at the capital.
The bombardment on Tuesday, which targeted locations across Ukraine, included six Russian Kinzhal aero-ballistic hypersonic missiles, the most fired in a single attack in the war so far, according to Ukrainian air force Spokesman, Yurii Ihnat.
Slowly but surely Ukraine is getting ready to launch a huge assault on Russia’s invading forces.
Ukraine’s Army At “An Increased State Of Readiness”
Western officials claim that Ukraine’s army is at “an increased state of readiness” ahead of a long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion.
The officials stated that many of Kyiv’s military capabilities were now “coming together”, including its ability to deploy tanks, fighting vehicles and combat engineers, as well as clearing mines, bridging rivers and striking long-range targets.
They said Russian troops were in a parlous state but warned that Moscow’s defensive lines in Ukraine were “potentially formidable” and guarded by “extensive minefields”.
Also, the officials argued the success of any Ukrainian offensive should be measured not just by territorial gains but also by whether it convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin to rethink his strategy. The “cognitive effect on the Kremlin”, they claimed, was more important than Ukrainian forces cleaving through Russian lines all the way to the border.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba met with Chinese envoy, Li Hui in Kyiv.
Kuleba discussed with envoy Li Hui “ways to stop Russian aggression,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kuleba briefed Li, a former Chinese ambassador to Moscow, “about the principles of restoring a stable and just peace based on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Kuleba, according to the statement, repeated his government’s position that Ukraine wouldn’t accept any proposal involving the loss of its territories or the “freezing of the conflict.”
There was no word on how Li responded to Kuleba.
