On Wednesday, deadly missile strikes hit southern and eastern Ukraine, causing several deaths and destruction. Russia fired four Kalibr missiles on Odesa, a historic city on the Black Sea, from a ship in the Black Sea, with three of them shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.
Unfortunately, one of the missiles hit a food warehouse, killing three employees and wounding seven. In addition, six other people were wounded after a business center, shops, and a residential complex in the city center were damaged. Overnight, Russian missile strikes also killed three people and destroyed dozens of private houses in the eastern cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka.
Ukraine’s counter-offensive makes gains, but Putin claims catastrophic losses on opponents.
Kyiv has launched a long-awaited counter-offensive to reclaim territory occupied by Russian forces. In the last three days, it has retaken around three square kilometers of territory and advanced in some areas as deep as 1.4 kilometers. However, Putin claimed on Tuesday that his forces were inflicting “catastrophic” losses on their opponents.
At the same time, Ukraine fired back, insisting that it had “certain gains, implementing our plans, moving forward.” According to military analysts, Ukraine has not yet committed the bulk of its forces in its counter-offensive, and it is still testing the front with probing attacks to determine weak points.
IAEA Chief to visit plant as dam disaster complicates nuclear safety and security situation
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi was expected at the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant on Wednesday, with concerns over the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia. The plant has been a concern since Russian forces seized it over a year ago during Moscow’s war on its neighbor.
The breach of the Kakhovka dam, which forms a reservoir that provides the cooling water for the plant, has further complicated “an already precarious nuclear safety and security situation” at the plant. The IAEA has warned about the dam disaster, which claimed at least 17 lives and has left dozens missing. Kyiv has accused Moscow of blowing up the dam on the Dnipro River, while Russia has blamed Ukraine.
