Firefighters extinguish a blaze at a university building in Donetsk. /Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Firefighters extinguish a blaze at a university building in Donetsk. /Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
TOP HEADLINES
• Russia launched a multi-wave overnight attack on Ukraine with 70 air-assault weapons including cruise and hypersonic missiles as well as Iranian-made drones, Kyiv's Air Force claimed, with at least 10 missiles appearing to get through air defenses. READ MORE BELOW
• Deputy governor of the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine, Serhiy Tiurin, said an airfield in Starokostiantyniv was a target of the overnight Russian attack. "The Starokonstiantyniv airfield is on the enemy's mind. There was a series of explosions in Starokonstiantyniv and Khmelnytskyi communities," he said on Telegram. "Most of the missiles were shot down by air defence forces."
• Flames engulfed a university building's wooden roof in Donetsk following Ukrainian shelling, said an emergency official in the Russian-controlled city in eastern Ukraine. "As a result of the latest attack on Donetsk, the first building of the University of Economics and Trade is on fire," Alexei Kulemzin, the Moscow-installed mayor, said on Telegram.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said people had been killed and wounded in a missile strike on a blood transfusion center in the town of Kupiansk, a railway hub 15 kilometers from the front in the eastern Kharkiv region. Rescue workers were extinguishing a fire at the scene, he said, describing the strike as a "war crime."
• Russia’s Gazprom continues shipping gas to Europe via Ukraine with the volume on Sunday at 42 million cubic meters.
• Russia's air defense system destroyed two aircraft-type drones over the Karachevskyi district in the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian region that borders Ukraine, said on Sunday. "There were no damages or casualties," Bogomaz said on Telegram.
• Workers installed Ukraine's national trident on an iconic monument depicting the Motherland in Kyiv on Sunday, replacing old Soviet symbols in one of the most visible examples of breaking away from the past and Moscow's influence.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promised a fresh round of institutional "cleaning" a reference to his ongoing campaign to impress Western partners by showing Kyiv has moved on from a history of deep-rooted graft. "Next week will be a continuation of our work on cleaning state institutions of those who tried to drag from the past all those old habits, old schemes that weakened Ukraine for a very long time, for decades," he said.
• DPRK leader Kim Jong Un has instructed factories making missile engines, artillery and other weapons to boost capacity as an important part of bolstering the country's defense capabilities, state media said on Sunday. The U.S. has accused DPRK of providing arms to Russia, including a "significant" number of artillery shells, as well as a shipment of infantry rockets. Russia and DPRK have denied those claims.
• Six grain wagons in a 61-car train headed for a Ukrainian river port derailed in Moldova as extreme heat weakened the rails, the country's railway system said. "The preliminary cause of the accident is the extremely high temperature, which caused the rails to lose their strength," the Moldovan railway said in a statement.
A Ukrainian national emblem has been mounted to the shield of the 'Motherland' monument, replacing the Soviet one. /Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
A Ukrainian national emblem has been mounted to the shield of the 'Motherland' monument, replacing the Soviet one. /Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
IN DETAIL
Cruise and hypersonic missiles hit Ukraine in fresh overnight assault
Russia launched a multi-wave overnight attack on Ukraine with 70 air-assault weapons including cruise and hypersonic missiles as well as Iranian-made drones, Kyiv's Air Force said on Sunday, and at least 10 missiles appear to got through air defenses.
Local media said a worker at a grain silo had been wounded in the overnight attack, which appeared to be focused on an area of western Ukraine, far from the front line.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said people had been killed and wounded in an earlier hit to a blood transfusion center in the town of Kupiansk, a railway hub within 15 kilometers of the front in the eastern Kharkiv region.
Rescue workers were extinguishing a fire at the scene he said, describing the strike as a "war crime." He did not say how many casualties there were.
Ukraine's air defense destroyed 30 out of 40 cruise missiles and all 27 of the Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight, the Air Force – which is celebrated in a holiday on Sunday – said on the Telegram.
It also said Russia launched three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, but did not disclose any further information on them.
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"In total, in several waves of attacks, from the evening of August 5 to the morning of August 6, 2023, the enemy used 70 means of air assault weapons," the Air Force said. "Information about Kinzhals is classified," the Ukrainian military noted.
It was not clear what happened to the 10 cruise missiles that were not shot down.
The deputy governor of the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine, Serhiy Tiurin, said that a military airfield in Starokostiantyniv was among the targets.
"The Starokonstiantyniv airfield is on the enemy's mind. There was a series of explosions in Starokonstiantyniv and Khmelnytskyi communities," he said on Telegram. "Most of the missiles were shot down by air defense forces."
Tiurin said explosions had damaged several houses, a communal cultural institution and the bus station and that a fire had broken out at a grain silo.
Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told the national Ukrainian broadcaster that one of the key targets for Russia's overnight attack was the Khmelnytskyi region. "Now, it is the Starokostiantyniv airfield that haunts the enemy," Ihnat said.
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Source(s): Reuters