Russia launched a missile attack on the southern city of Dnipro early on August 24, wounding seven people, as Ukraine marked its Independence Day amid heavy fighting in the east and south.
"Powerful explosions in the middle of the night in Dnipro," Dnipropetrovsk regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said early on August 24 on Telegram, adding that a transport facility was destroyed.
Lysak said three men and four women with ages ranging from 32 to 55 were wounded in the strike. "Six were hospitalized in a moderate condition," he said.
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More than a dozen civilian facilities were damaged, including a bank, a gas station, a hotel, an agricultural firm, a furniture factory, an administrative building, and two residential buildings.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said in a statement that Russia struck overnight with S-300, Iskander K, and Iskander M ballistic missiles, adding that one Iskander K missile was shot down by the Ukrainian air defense. He did not give further details.
Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on August 24 that he had spoken by phone with U.S. President Joe Biden and thanked him for his Independence Day greetings.
"The U.S. took the lead in rallying global support for Ukraine. This crucial leadership enabled our struggle and bent the arc of history toward good," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
Also on August 24, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said that Kyiv’s forces had driven back Russian attacks on several areas of the front line, including Kupyansk in the east Avdyivka near the Russia-controlled city of Donetsk.
Kyiv also said that Ukrainian forces had repelled Russian moves near Maryinka, southwest of Donetsk.
The claims could not immediately be verified.
Ukrainian intelligence services had warned that there was an increased risk of Russian air strikes on Ukraine on Independence Day.
SEE ALSO: Convenient Crashes: A Look At Russia's History Of Suspicious Aircraft DisastersOn the battlefield, Kyiv's military said Ukrainian forces had raised the national flag on the roof of a badly damaged school in the settlement of Robotyne in the southern Zaporizhzhya region.
There's been no independent confirmation and It is not clear whether the entire community has been liberated.
Meanwhile, the United States said it will begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 warplanes in October, joining a Western coalition that is helping to prepare Kyiv’s fliers on the sophisticated combat aircraft to join the fight against the Russian invasion.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder on August 24 said the program would begin in the state of Arizona following completion of English-language training sessions for Ukrainian pilots.
"These pilots will be conducting English-language training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, in September prior to attending F-16 flying training in Arizona," Ryder said without specifying the number of pilots.
The U.S. announcement came after reports out of the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway that those NATO nations would be sending an undisclosed number of F-16 jets to Ukraine.