3 killed, 16 injured during Russian strikes on Ukraine

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least three people were killed and 16 others injured as Russian forces pounded various parts of Ukraine, including the flashpoint regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram early Monday that Russian strikes in the region killed two residents in the cities of Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar.

“Another 6 people in the region were injured,” Kyrylenko said, adding that it is impossible to establish the exact number of casualties in Mariupol and Volnovakha.

The two cities are under Russian control.

In Kharkiv, a missile strike on a residential building resulted in a civilian being injured, according to the region’s governor Oleh Synyehubov. He further said on Telegram that a 61-year-old man was injured and hospitalized in the Izium district after an "unknown munition" blew up.

Separately, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian air defense shot down 15 drones and four cruise missiles, the region’s governor Serhii Lysak said on Telegram, further saying that a 27-year-old man was injured due to a rocket strike in Dnipro and was hospitalized.

Lysak also said that seven people were injured when a drone crashed in the Hilarionivska community of the Synelniky district.

Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on his Telegram account that one person in the region died due to Russian strikes.

“Over the past day, the enemy carried out 57 shellings, firing 318 shells from heavy artillery, ‘Grads’, tanks, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and aviation,” Prokudin said, adding Kherson city was shelled four times and that 79 people were evacuated from the region.

Elsewhere, Zaporizhzhia Governor Yuriy Malashko said a total of 75 strikes were recorded in the region over the past day without resulting in any casualties.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's national nuclear energy provider Energoatom reported another blackout at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (Zaporizhzhia NPP) after the last transmission line connected to the plant disconnected due to Russian shelling early Monday.

“After the loss of external power supply, which is vital for the operation of the nuclear fuel cooling pumps in the holding pools and nuclear reactors of the power units, all diesel generators of the NPP turned on automatically. They have enough fuel for 10 days. The countdown has begun,” the statement on Telegram said.

It further said the nuclear power plant should “immediately be returned” to the full control of Energoatom, and that Russia must withdraw from the plant’s territory and the city of Enerhodar.

Zaporizhzhia NPP, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, has been under Russian control since March 2022, soon after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Russia-Ukraine war, closing in on its 15th month, has killed 8,836 civilians and wounded 14,985, according to the latest UN figures.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​