Russian air strike on Kiev as the Ukrainian army advances near Pashmut | outside

“The enemy continues its attacks inside the city,” said Sergey Sherevaty, commander of the Armed Forces of Eastern Ukraine, about the situation in Pashmut. Meanwhile, his forces pressed the Russian soldiers out of the city and continued to advance there. “The situation in Bashmoit is difficult, but it is under control,” said Cherevati. “We can see, anticipate and prepare for the enemy’s intentions.”

Russian forces have been trying to capture the strategic city of Bashmut for months, but they seem to be losing momentum. They control large parts of the almost completely destroyed city, but Ukrainian forces have been advancing from the north and east in recent days to outflank the Russians.

look. Ukraine distributes photos of the fleeing Russians in Bashmut

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Moscow had moved thousands of soldiers to Pashmut for reinforcements. “The enemy cannot win with quality, so he tries with quantity,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “The Russian forces continue to attack with losses proportionately much greater than ours.”

Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 18 Iranian-made kamikaze drones during an attack on the capital, Kiev. It was the eleventh time this month that Russia attacked the city. Two residential buildings, cars and roads were damaged.

“Last night, the aggressor carried out another large-scale attack with a drone,” said the head of the military department in Kiev, Serhiy Popko. According to him, all drones have been rendered invalid. There were no reports of injuries. Falling debris from a drone caused a house fire, which has been put out. Windows were shattered in other homes.

Ukrainian commentators said that the Russian military leadership first tried to destroy the country’s energy infrastructure and now wants to keep the capital’s residents awake with constant night attacks.

And in the south, in the coastal city of Mariupol, which has been controlled by the Russians since the spring of 2022, explosions were heard at the airport on Friday evening, the official Russian news agency, Tass, reported. Many video images of the explosions, the cause of which is not yet known, have appeared on social media.

Petro Andryushenko, advisor to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, confirmed the explosions in the port city through a statement on Telegram, the Ukrinform news site reported. Explosions rocked Mariupol. Residents heard three powerful explosions. According to the advisor, an attack also targeted a base of 150 Russian soldiers.

A local resistance group – calling itself “Resistance to Mariupol” – reported that the explosions “shook an area on the outskirts of the city”. The Russian and Ukrainian armies have not yet commented on the incident. According to initial reports by the Russian media, there were no casualties.

Mariupol is a port city in southern Ukraine in the Donetsk region and was heavily besieged immediately after the start of the Russian invasion. The fighting went on for months and in the end the Russians won that day: Mariupol has been in Russian hands since May last year. There is not much left of the coastal city

look. All about the war between Russia and Ukraine in pictures