Kiev [Ukraine], June 23: At least five people have been killed in Russian attacks at several locations across Ukraine, including a drone strike on the home of a large family in the Sumy region, the regional prosecutor's office said on Monday.
A 13-year-old boy, his father and his grandmother were killed in the strike on the community of Znob-Novhorodske in the north-eastern Sumy region. The mother and two siblings aged 10 and 13 were injured. The settlement is located just a few kilometres from the border with Russia.
In Zaporizhzhya in south-eastern Ukraine, a woman was killed in a Russian drone attack, said the region's military governor, Ivan Fedorov. Three others were injured. The projectile struck a house in a residential area and triggered a fire, he said.
Russia also attacked several civilian cargo ships in the Black Sea with drones overnight, Ukrainian authorities said. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said a fire broke out on a vessel sailing under the Panamanian flag and a cook with Egyptian citizenship was killed. Eight crew members had to be evacuated, he said. The ship was no longer seaworthy, he wrote.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than four years.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones on Monday attacked Russia's Satellite Communications Centre (SCC) 120 kilometres north of Moscow, Russian authorities confirmed following a report by the general staff in Kiev.
"The functionality of TV broadcasting and news traffic were not disrupted," the press service of the operator of communications satellites said. It said the effects of the attack were being dealt with and that no staff had been injured.
Ukraine provided no details on the attack's effects.
The SCC was established to broadcast the 1980 Moscow Olympics. It went on to set up a direct line between the Kremlin and the White House.It is not known whether it is also used for military purposes.
Source: Qatar Tribune