Russian missiles kill at least 6 in Zelensky’s hometown in central Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine —  Russian missiles slammed into an apartment complex and a university building in the hometown of Ukraine’s president on Monday, killing six people and wounding 75 others as the blasts trapped residents beneath rubble, Ukrainian officials said.

One of the two missiles destroyed a section of the apartment building between the fourth and ninth floors, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. Video showed black smoke billowing from corner units and burned-out or damaged cars on a tree-lined street in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.

The dead included a 10-year-old girl and her mother, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who comes from Kryvyi Rih. More than 350 people were involved in the rescue operation, he said in a Telegram post.

The morning attack also destroyed part of the four-story university building.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian artillery strike on partially occupied Donetsk province killed two people and wounded six in the regional capital, according to Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-installed leader of the illegally annexed province.

A bus was also hit as Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Donetsk multiple times Monday, Pushilin said.

Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.

A recent Ukrainian counteroffensive, deploying weaponry supplied by Kyiv’s Western allies and aimed at driving Russian forces out of occupied areas, intensified last week. At the same time, Ukraine has sought to take the war deep into Russia, reportedly using drones to hit targets as far away as Moscow.

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia and Moscow-annexed territory, especially Crimea, have become more frequent. The latest strike, on Sunday, damaged two office buildings a few miles from the Kremlin.

Russia has tightened security in the aftermath of that attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, describing the assault as an “act of desperation.”

“The Kyiv regime is in a very, very difficult situation,” Peskov said, “as the counteroffensive is not working out as planned.”

Another Ukrainian drone targeted a district police department early Monday in Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, but there were no casualties, the local governor said.

In Kryvyi Rih, rescue crews searched Monday for people who were trapped in the wreckage of the two buildings. The Kremlin’s forces have occasionally targeted the city since they invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Bombarding populated areas with missiles, artillery and drones has been a hallmark of Moscow’s military strategy during the war, an approach that has continued during the Ukrainian counteroffensive that started in June.

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Russian officials insist they only take aim at legitimate military targets, but Ukraine and its supporters say mass civilian deaths during previous attacks provide evidence of war crimes.

“In recent days, the enemy has been stubbornly attacking cities, city centers, shelling civilian objects and housing,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media. “But this terror will not frighten us or break us.”

Russian shelling Monday also killed a 70-year-old woman in her home in a Kharkiv province village near Izyum, as well as a civilian in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local authorities said.

In eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province, one person was reported killed and seven people were injured after Russia shelled 12 cities and villages, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Ukrainian officials didn’t acknowledge Sunday’s drone attacks in the Moscow region. In his nightly video address, Zelensky said: “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.”

Meanwhile, Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Monday his Wagner Group is not currently recruiting fighters.

In an audio message published on a Telegram channel associated with the Wagner chief, Prigozhin said the company had suspended recruitment as there is currently “no shortage of personnel.”

Prigozhin previously agreed with Western estimates that he lost more than 20,000 men in the long battle for the Ukrainian city Bakhmut.

Prigozhin last month led a short-lived mutiny against Moscow, demanding a leadership change in the Russian military. In an attempt to control him, Russian authorities insisted that Wagner fighters can only return to Ukraine if they join Russia’s regular army.