At least five people were killed in a wave of Russia strikes on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, early on April 28, regional officials and the military reported, as heavy fighting continued in the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut.
As a two-hour air-raid alert was announced early on April 28, reports about deadly Russian attacks started pouring in from across Ukraine.
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In Uman, a city in central Ukraine’s Cherkasy region, Russian missiles killed at least three people and wounded another eight, said Ihor Taburets, the head of the regional military administration.
The missiles hit a residential building and a warehouse in the city, Taburets said.
In Dnipro, a large city on the Dnieper River in central Ukraine, a woman and a toddler were killed in the Russian attack, despite the Ukrainian air defense managing to shoot down seven missiles, said Serhiy Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region’s military administration.
“A private home was destroyed in Dnipro. A 2-year-old girl and a 31-year-old woman were killed. Three people were wounded,” Lysak said.
The attack also caused extensive damage to the building of a private company where a fire broke out, he said.
The Ukrainian air defense shot down most of the missiles that targeted Kyiv, said Serhiy Popko, head of Ukraine’s capital military administration.
“According to preliminary data, 11 cruise missiles were destroyed in the airspace of Kyiv. In addition, two drones were shot down,” Popko added.
A power line was cut and civilian infrastructure as damaged as well.
A child was injured by falling debris in a settlement in the Kyiv region, local authorities said.
WATCH: Often under Russian fire, Ukrainian medics near Bakhmut try to stabilize wounded soldiers so they can be transported to hospitals in safer areas.
Blasts were also reported overnight in Kremenchuk and Poltava in central Ukraine and in Mykolayiv in the south.
Ukraine’s Air Force Command later reported that the multipronged attack on Ukrainian cities was executed from strategic Tu-195 Russian aircraft coming from the Caspian Sea region.
The command said Ukrainian air defense destroyed 21 out of 23 cruise missiles and two drones in central, eastern, and southern Ukraine.
Since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has denied targeting civilians, despite the abundant evidence to the contrary.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued unabated on the Bakhmut-Adviyivka-Maryinka front line in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily update on April 28.
During the past 24 hours, Russian forces carried out more than 65 attacks, but all were repelled by Ukrainian defenders, the military said. Bakhmut and Maryinka remain at the epicenter of hostilities, it said.
On April 27, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said military aid from allies and partners has substantially improved Ukraine’s prospects to liberate territories occupied by Russia since the start of its unprovoked invasion.
Stoltenberg, speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said “more than 98 percent” of the combat vehicles pledged by the allies have already been delivered.
“That means over 1,550 armored vehicles, 230 tanks, and other equipment, including vast amounts of ammunition,” he said.
“In total, we have trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian armored brigades. This will put Ukraine in the strong position to continue to retake occupied territory,” Stoltenberg said.
The alliance chief, however, cautioned that “we should never underestimate Russia” despite the “unprecedented” military support that Ukraine received from its partners and allies.
Moscow was “willing to send in thousands of troops with very high casualty rates,” he said.
Stoltenberg’s statements came amid reports that Kyiv was preparing a long-anticipated counteroffensive that could be launched once the weather warmed and the terrain improved.
