Russian Drones Strike Kyiv As Fighting Intensifies In East; Zelenskiy Visits Odesa
Russia overnight launched its first drone attack in the area around Ukraine’s capital in nearly two weeks as "fierce" fighting also hit the east of the country, officials said on July 2, one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russia could be preparing an explosion at the massive Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
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“Another enemy attack on Kyiv,” wrote Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, on Telegram. “At this moment there is no information about possible casualties or damage.”
Separately, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Russian troops were attacking in four frontline areas in the east of the country but added that Ukrainian forces were also "gradually" proceeding with their counteroffensive moves.
"Fierce fighting is going on everywhere," Malyar wrote on social media. "The situation is quite complicated. It's hot now everywhere."
"Our troops are facing intense enemy resistance...but persistently and unceasingly are creating conditions for the fastest forward movement."
Zelenskiy later visited Ukraine’s crucial port city of Odesa, releasing a video in which he said that "the enemy will definitely not dictate conditions in the Black Sea” and the rest of the southern region.
"The occupiers will have to be afraid of approaching our Ukrainian Crimea and our coast on the Sea of Azov as Russian ships are already scared of approaching our Black Sea cost," he said as he marked Ukraine’s annual Navy Day.
In the capital, air-raid sirens were heard beginning at about 2 a.m. local time, Reuters reported.
One civilian was later reported slightly injured by falling debris in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s air-defense forces said on July 2 that eight drones and three Kalibr cruise missiles had been launched overnight across the country.
“All air targets…were destroyed,” the military wrote on Telegram.
In its daily briefing on July 2, the Ukrainian General Staff reported 46 clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces during the previous 24 hours.
RFE/RL cannot confirm claims of battlefield developments by either side in areas of heavy fighting.
The main fighting was again reported in the area of Lyman, Bakhmut, and Maryinka in the Donetsk region.
During a news conference on July 1 with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Zelenskiy said there was “a serious threat” that Russia was prepared to set off “a local explosion” at the massive Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant “which could lead to a [radiation] release.”
Zelenskiy met with security and nuclear-power officials on July 1 at the Rivne nuclear power plant to discuss “key issues,” he said in his nightly video address.
Ukraine’s military had earlier claimed that Russia had mined the Zaporizhzhya plant, which is Europe’s largest civilian nuclear facility.
On June 30, Enerhoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear authority, concluded two days of exercises simulating the effects of an explosion at the plant, which has been controlled by Russian occupying forces since shortly after Moscow launched its February 2022 invasion.
Inside Russia, local media reported that a large explosion rocked the district of Krasnodar, near an air base in Primorsko-Akhtarsk, a town of about 32,000 people. Details were not immediately available.
With reporting by Reuters
Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
