Russia Strikes Kyiv Amid Ukraine Counterattacks

Ukraine says operation to liberate Kherson has begun
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 28, 2022 4:32 AM CDT
Russia Strikes Kyiv Amid Ukraine Counterattacks
Ukrainian self-propelled artillery shoots towards Russian forces at a frontline in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 27, 2022.   (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Russian forces on Thursday launched massive missile strikes on Ukraine's Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, areas that haven't been targeted in weeks, while Ukrainian officials announced an operation to liberate an occupied region in the country's south. Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram that a settlement in the Vyshgorod district of the region was targeted early on Thursday; an "infrastructure object" was hit. It wasn't immediately clear if there were any casualties. Vyshhgorod is located about 12 miles north of downtown Kyiv. Kuleba linked the strikes with the Day of Statehood, which Ukraine was marking for the first time on Thursday, the AP reports.

"Russia, with the help of missiles, is mounting revenge for the widespread popular resistance," Kuleba told Ukrainian television. “Ukraine has already broken Russia’s plans and will continue to defend itself." Chernihiv governor Vyacheslav Chaus reported that multiple missiles were fired from the territory of Belarus at the village of Honcharivska. Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions months ago after failing to capture either. The renewed strikes on the areas come a day after the leader of pro-Kremlin separatists in the east, Denis Pushilin, publicly called on the Russian forces to “liberate Russian cities founded by the Russian people—Kyiv, Chernihiv, Poltava, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military continued to counterattack in the occupied southern region of Kherson, striking a key bridge over the Dnieper River on Wednesday. Ukrainian media on Thursday quoted Ukraine's presidential adviser, Oleksiy Arestovich, as saying that the operation to liberate Kherson "has already begun." Arestovich said Kyiv's forces were planning to isolate Russian troops there and leave them with three options—to "retreat, if possible, surrender, or be destroyed." The British military estimated Thursday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Kherson is "gathering momentum." (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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