Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that six people were killed in a Russian missile strike near the Ukrainian capital. According to him, a rescue operation is ongoing and “dozens of people are reported to have been injured.”
Zelensky also stated that five people were killed in a Russian air strike on the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, near the eastern front line.
On the same day, Kyiv launched a series of long-range drone and missile attacks against Russia.
Moscow reported that six people were killed in an attack on a factory in the city of Kirov, more than 1,000 kilometers from the front line.
Ukraine also struck warehouses belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries near St. Petersburg. This company, often referred to as the Russian equivalent of Amazon, was hit for the third time this week.
The Finnish military briefly imposed aviation and shipping restrictions in parts of the Gulf of Finland early Friday due to Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia, to ensure public safety and Finland’s ability to counter stray drones, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported.
Russia and Ukraine continue to strike each other at a time when, according to the United Nations (UN), more civilians have died this summer in the conflict, which has been ongoing for almost four and a half years, than at any other period since the first months of the Russian invasion.
Zelensky stated that Kyiv struck a “significant military facility” in the Russian city of Kirov, noting that this facility “supplies components for the occupier’s aircraft and missile systems, which are used for massive attacks against our cities.”
Kirov region governor Alexander Sokolov confirmed that Kyiv struck a factory and that six people died on the spot. Another 26 were injured.
Although Kyiv has struck Russian cities as far as the Urals and Siberia, these strikes have mostly damaged energy infrastructure, and deaths on Russian territory have been rare until now.
“Terrifying”
In St. Petersburg – Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s hometown – a column of smoke rose over the historic city after the strikes on Wildberries warehouses.
Zelensky claims that Wildberries – Russia’s most popular e-commerce platform – stores drone components and assists the Russian military.
He called Friday’s strikes successful.
Ukraine states that its retaliatory strikes against Russia aim to weaken Moscow’s war efforts and force the Kremlin to negotiate an end to the war.
Attacks on major Russian cities were unimaginable when the Kremlin launched its offensive in February 2022, expecting a quick victory and promising Russians that their lives at home would not be affected.
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In St. Petersburg, 50-year-old teacher Anna said that these strikes only “make people angry.”
“This Ukrainian tactic does not lead to peace – even in my immediate surroundings, people are getting angrier and saying that if this is their way, then we should continue (the offensive),” she said.
Since 2022, Ukrainian cities have been constantly under Russian attacks, with civilians dying daily across Ukraine during the war.
Russian media does not report on this, as Moscow has imposed strict censorship during the war and banned criticism of its military campaign.
Svetlana, a 30-year-old cashier from St. Petersburg, said she was terrified and that “everything is just getting worse.”
She claimed that Ukraine was to blame: “Of course, I want peace, but you see what they (Ukrainians) are doing.”
Russia occupies large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine; Moscow does not abandon its maximalist demands to occupy the rest of Eastern Ukraine.
Russian aerial bombs
Hours after Ukraine’s attack on St. Petersburg, AFP correspondents in Kyiv heard explosions over the city after authorities warned of approaching Russian missiles – a rare attempt to strike the Ukrainian capital during the day.
Russia has launched several waves of deadly ballistic missile attacks against Kyiv in recent weeks.
In Ukrainian Sloviansk, local governor Vadym Filashkin stated that Moscow “dropped two aerial bombs on the city.”
The city, which had a population of about 105,000 before the war, is near the front line and is a target for Moscow.
In 2014, Sloviansk became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance when it briefly fell into the hands of pro-Russian separatists before Kyiv recaptured control of the city.
The UN reported this week that the number of civilian casualties in the Russian-Ukrainian war increased by 37% in the first half of this year and was “almost double” that recorded in 2024.
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