Russia launched three missiles targeting Kyiv region in an early morning strike on June 23 after at least two civilians were killed when a residential building was struck by a Russian bomb in the northeastern city of Kharkiv a day earlier.
Ukraine’s Air Force said that two of the three missiles fired at the Kyiv region on June 23 were downed. It was unclear whether the third missile caused any injuries or damage.
The strike came on the same day that Russian officials announced that Ukraine had launched dozens of drones and missiles targeting Russian-occupied territory on Crimea and the southern Russian city of Belgorod.
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Russian Strike On Kharkiv Apartment Building Leaves Dead, Injured
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean Peninsula, said three people were killed and more than 100 injured in the strike on the peninsula. Razvozhayev said missile fragments fell near a beach on the north side of Sevastopol in a park.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine fired five long-range missile systems known as ATACMS, short for Army Tactical Missile System. It said four were shot down and the fifth exploded in midair.
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In Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, one person was killed and three were injured by Ukrainian drones, said regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
More than 30 drones were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s western Bryansk, Smolensk, Lipetsk, and Tula regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
No casualties were reported by Russian authorities in the two regions.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s’ Armed Forces said on June 23 in its afternoon report on fighting that Russian troops made 81 attempts to advance, most of them in the areas around Kupyansk and Pokrovskiy, where 17 attacks were ongoing as of 4 p.m. local time.
Russia's attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv earlier on June 23 came a day after Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s battered energy infrastructure. The strikes damaged power transmission systems in the southeastern Zaporizhzhya and western Lviv regions, Ukrenerho said.
Ukrenerho said the attack was the eighth large-scale strike targeting the country's energy grid over the past three months. Rolling electricity blackouts will be imposed nationwide throughout June 24 as a result of the attack, Ukrenerho announced.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on June 22 that three people were killed in the Kharkiv bombing and at least 56 were injured. The State Emergency Service on June 23 issued revised the figures downward to two killed and 53 injured, including three children.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has called in recent days for measures to protect Ukraine’s energy system, said during his nightly televised address on June 22 that Russia has dropped more than 2,400 guided bombs on Ukraine this month, including about 700 on Kharkiv alone.
Zelenskiy repeated his plea for additional air defenses from his Western allies and for decisions that would allow Ukraine to destroy Russian combat aircraft "where they are."