Deaths and damage reported in Ukraine's Dnipro as Zelensky heads east
Eight people were killed after Ukraine's industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk was bombarded from the air by Russia early on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said, but there was some success for Kiev with a Russian supersonic bomber allegedly shot down.
Ukraine, which has called for extra weapons from Western allies to repel Kremlin forces, is being targeted almost every night by Russian missiles as Moscow tries to up the ante after months of front-line stalemate in the two-year conflict.
At least two people were killed and 15 injured in the regional capital of Dnipro, Governor Serhiy Lysak announced on Telegram.
A five-storey residential building was hit and the state-owned railway said rail facilities had been targeted. The main railway station in Dnipro was closed and long-distance trains were diverted.
According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, six people were also killed in the town of Synelnykove - including two children - after several family homes were hit.
A factory was also damaged in Pavlohrad and an infrastructure building in Kryvyi Rih, officials added.
According to Lysak, the air defence system over Dnipropetrovsk was able to shoot down nine Russian missiles, but others got through.
Since Soviet times, Dnipro and other cities in the region have been home to Ukraine's defence industries.
To the south, the Dnipro River forms the southern front line of the war and Russian troops shelled the Nikopol district across the river with artillery, Lysak added.
The port city of Odessa was also attacked with missiles from the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
The Russian Air Force meanwhile acknowledged it had lost one of its Tupolev Tu-22M supersonic heavy bombers on Friday, but said the crash was due to technical reasons. Ukraine announced that it had instead shot the plane down.
The Ministry of Defence in Moscow said the aircraft crashed in the Stavropol region of southern Russia while returning from a combat mission. The four crew members had ejected and three were initially rescued. The aircraft had no ammunition on board, the ministry added.
Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers shared spectacular but unverified videos on social media which allegedly showed the long-range bomber spinning in the air with its engine on fire.
The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, announced that this was the first time such an aircraft had been successfully brought down with a missile.
Ukraine's HUR military intelligence service said the Tupolev was shot at around 300 kilometres inside Russia. The damaged aircraft then flew on and crashed near its base by Stavropol.
The claims of both sides could not be independently verified.
In a dig at the West, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram that the skies over Ukraine could be defended just as well as the skies over Israel if foreign partners supplied more weapons.
Zelensky was visiting a command point near the embattled city of Chasiv Yar during a trip to the eastern front in the Donetsk region.
He was briefed on the situation and then awarded medals to soldiers.
The small town of Chasiv Yar, not far from Bakhmut which was captured by the Russians almost a year ago after heavy fighting, is considered to be the Kremlin army's next target following a drawn-out invasion that began in February 2022.
Zelensky's fears that the West has become occupied with other flashpoints after two years of supporting Kiev financially and militarily was echoed by the presidents of the parliaments in the three Baltic States.
They have sent a letter to the United States Congress urging lawmakers to approve a stalled aid package for Ukraine as US help is "indispensable at this crucial juncture."
NATO and EU members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all border fellow former Soviet state Russia and fear Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has them next in his sights.
