War in Ukraine, day 916 | New massive Russian strikes, attempted Ukrainian incursion into the Belgorod region

(Kyiv) Ukraine suffered new Russian strikes which left at least four dead on the night of Monday to Tuesday, the day after one of the most “massive” attacks since the start of the conflict.

Moscow launched 91 missiles, the Ukrainian military announced, saying it had shot down 60 Shahed suicide drones and five missiles of different types.

“Unfortunately, despite the effective work of our air defense, four people were killed and 16 injured,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram on Tuesday.

“Crimes against humanity cannot be committed with impunity,” he added, accusing Moscow of targeting “civilians and infrastructure.”

The four deaths were recorded in the Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rig regions in southeastern Ukraine.

“Rescue operations are underway at the sites of strikes and debris falls,” Zelensky assured.

A loud explosion was also heard during the night in Kyiv by AFP journalists, probably due to the interception of a Russian projectile by anti-aircraft defenses.

In the morning, life had resumed its course in the streets of the capital, where residents went to work as usual.

Power cuts

On Monday, hundreds of Kyiv residents took refuge underground to protect themselves from “massive” Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The bombings left at least four people dead and forced authorities to impose emergency power cuts.

“The enemy has launched the largest missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian power grid since the beginning of the war,” Ukrenergo, the national energy company, said of the bombings on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday morning, some areas of Kyiv were still without electricity.

DETK, the country’s main energy supplier, warned on Telegram on Monday that power outages were expected throughout the day on Tuesday in the major cities of Kyiv, Dnipro, Odessa and in the Donetsk region, where the Eastern Front is located.

Fifteen regions were targeted by Russian bombings on Monday, which Ukraine says involved some 236 missiles and drones. The Ukrainian army claims to have shot down 201 of them.

Since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has regularly bombed its neighbor’s energy infrastructure, forcing authorities there to ration electricity.

New Ukrainian incursion?

On Tuesday morning, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, also said he had received information about an attempted incursion by Ukrainian armed forces.

“There are reports that the enemy is trying to cross the border of the Belgorod region. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the situation on the border remains difficult, but under control,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram account.

According to the Russian Telegram channel MASH, which is known to be close to the authorities, Ukrainian soldiers are trying to enter the region via the town of Nekhoteevka, where fighting is underway.

Struggling on the Eastern Front against more numerous and better equipped Russian troops, Ukraine launched a surprise offensive on August 6, still ongoing, on the Russian border region of Kursk, neighboring that of Belgorod.

For Kyiv, this is particularly about creating a “buffer zone” to protect itself from Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory and to compensate for the lack of range of the munitions made available to it by its Western allies.

Volodymyr Zelensky called on the West to allow his country to use its long-range weapons on Russian soil, which they have so far refused to do.

At the same time, the Russian army claimed on Tuesday the conquest of a new locality in the direction of Pokrovsk, moving closer to this Ukrainian mining town, an important logistical hub on the Eastern Front which remains the epicentre of the fighting.

In the eastern region of Donetsk, authorities decided on Monday to extend evacuations to the area around Kostiantynivka, located around fifteen kilometers from the front line, due to the “deterioration of security conditions.”