🔴 Live: Russia destroys 20 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, defence ministry says

Issued on: 12/08/2023 – 07:49Modified: 12/08/2023 – 10:08

3 min

9:53am: Police officer killed and 12 injured in Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine says

One police officer and 12 people, including four other police officers, were injured in an attack on Orikhiv town in Zaporizhzhia region, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.

He said Russian troops used a guided aerial bomb.

Klymenko’s statement could not be independently verified. 

8:28am: Elderly woman killed in Kharkiv by Russian shelling, Ukraine says 

An elderly woman was killed early Saturday morning due to shelling by Russian troops on a settlement in Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, a local official said.

“This morning, around 5:10, the enemy fired on Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi village in Kupiansk district. A residential building was damaged. A 73-year-old woman died,” Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not independently verify the details of the Ukrainian report.

Eastern parts of the Kharkiv region are directly adjacent to the front line and Ukrainian forces have reported an increase in Russian attacks there in recent weeks.

Kharkiv regional authorities earlier this month announced the mandatory evacuation of civilians from settlements closest to the front line in Kupiansk district.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians during its invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its 18th month and has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, the uprooting of millions and the destruction of Ukrainian towns and cities.

7:11am: Russian defence minister Shoigu inspects Northern Fleet

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected remote Arctic garrisons of the Northern Fleet, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday.

The ministry said a detachment of Russian warships went to the sea to perform tasks in the Arctic zone of the Arctic Ocean.

5:40am: Russia destroys 20 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, defence ministry says

Russian forces destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched onto the Crimean Peninsula early on Saturday, Russia’s defence ministry said.

There were no casualties and no damage as a result of the attempted attack, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. It said 14 drones were destroyed by air defence systems and six were suppressed by electronic warfare.

The defence ministry’s version of events could not be independently verified.

It was not immediately clear what was targeted in the reported attacks on the Russian-annexed peninsula. Sergei Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, said earlier that air defence systems were engaged in repelling air attack in different parts of the peninsula.

Crimea transport authorities said on their Telegram channel that traffic on the Crimean Bridge, which links the Black Sea peninsula with the Russian region of Krasnodar, was suspended for about two hours from 1:30 am. (2230 GMT).

Drone attacks on Russian-controlled territories in Ukraine and deep inside Russia have increased since a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for the attacks but has said destroying Russia’s military infrastructure is crucial for Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

Key developments from Friday, August 11:

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that the heads of all Ukraine’s regional military recruitment centres were being dismissed from their jobs amid concerns about corruption.

“This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason,” he said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

The mass sacking came as Ukraine urged civilians near the northeastern front line to evacuate on Thursday as Russia ramped up an assault to capture territory already seized once during the conflict.

Kupiansk and the surrounding areas of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region were recaptured by Kyiv’s forces in September but Moscow has since pushed back into the region.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)