Deadly strikes hit Ukraine, Russia and annexed Crimea
Officials reported at least eight deaths as Kyiv and Moscow traded attacks away from the front and EU envoys backed new Russia sanctions.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Russian and Ukrainian attacks killed at least eight people on Thursday, according to officials on both sides, as both countries continued strikes far from the main battlefield. The reported deaths included four people in Ukraine and four in Russia and Moscow-annexed Crimea.
Authorities in Russia and Crimea said Ukrainian strikes killed four people, including a child, and injured eight others. Regional Governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram that a three-year-old boy died after a drone crashed into his home outside Voronezh, about 500km south of Moscow, starting a fire.
Gusev said the boy’s parents suffered wounds, and that a young man was injured in a separate drone attack in the same area. In Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, regional authorities said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone hit a vehicle, killing one man and wounding another.
Moscow-installed officials in Crimea said Ukrainian attacks on the annexed peninsula killed two people and injured four. Russia seized and annexed Crimea in 2014.
In Ukraine, regional Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said a Russian strike hit a food business in Pavlohrad, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing three people and injuring at least 10. Hanzha said on Telegram that the attack started a fire.
Ukraine’s national broadcaster Suspilne reported that a 57-year-old man was killed in the northeastern Sumy region in a mortar attack. Suspilne said the man was in his yard when he was hit and that medical teams were unable to save him.
Competing claims around Pokrovsk
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said Thursday that Russian forces had taken the village of Bilytske, about 12km north of Pokrovsk. Moscow has said it captured Pokrovsk in December.
Ukraine’s General Staff said earlier that Ukrainian forces had repelled 42 Russian assaults over the previous day near 19 settlements on the Pokrovsk front, including Bilytske. Ukrainian authorities had not commented on Russia’s latest claim, according to Al Jazeera.
EU envoys back new sanctions
European Union diplomats said the bloc’s envoys agreed to a 21st package of sanctions against Russia, including new measures aimed at the banking sector. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X that the package targets 218 people and entities.
Kallas said the measures cover more than 100 banks and cryptocurrency operators, at least 40 vessels described by the EU as part of Russia’s shadow fleet, and several oil refineries. She said the list also adds more than 50 military-industrial entities, including actors involved in producing Russian long-range drones.
EU diplomats said the package includes a compromise with Greece that softens restrictions on Russian liquefied natural gas transfers. The measures allow EU companies a one-year exemption to transfer Russian LNG to third countries, with automatic renewal, after Greek objections.
Reuters reported one EU diplomat as saying member states showed solidarity with Greece and expected Greece to do the same for others in the future. Greece argued that a planned ban on Russian LNG transfer services to third countries would shift market share outside Europe without reducing Russian revenues.
EU diplomats said the transfer-services measure had been due to take effect on January 1, while EU imports of Russian LNG will still be banned from that date. They also said the sanctions package includes a 12-month freeze on the Russian oil price cap at $44.10 a barrel.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.