Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad suffers 'hellish night and morning' of Russian strikes
Pavlohrad, a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast that has become a key humanitarian aid hub for those evacuating the front lines, suffered one of its most severe attacks of the war, Governor Serhii Lysak said on July 19.
"A hellish night and morning for Pavlograd," Lysak wrote on Telegram. "The most massive attack on the city. Explosion after explosion. Russian terrorists struck with missiles and drones."
Lysak reported fires following the strikes as well as damage to nine high-rise buildings, a house, and an educational institution, and that police and aid workers were on the scene. No casualties have been reported yet.
As Russian efforts to capture the nearby city of Pokrovsk have intensified, Pavlohrad has increasingly been a new evacuation hub for those fleeing the ongoing fighting.
Prior to the war, Pavlohrad was home to 100,000 people. Today it is filled with refugees moving westward for safer regions, and volunteers who arrive to aid those displaced by the fighting.
The city is located around 76 kilometers (42 miles) from the front lines. For several months, Russian troops have been attempting to enter the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
The attack on Pavlohrad was part of a series of overnight attacks that targeted several regions of Ukraine using missiles, drones, and artillery, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 30 across the country.
Russia has significantly stepped up its nightly aerial attacks across Ukraine since the start of the year.
Last month, civilian casualties reached a three-year high, with 232 killed and 1,343 injured in June, according to a public statement from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. A key reason for the rise is Russia’s increased use of missiles and drones in urban areas.
Compared with June of last year, Russia launched ten times more missiles and loitering munitions, the UN wrote, and "virtually no region of Ukraine was spared, regardless of its distance from the front line."
