Russian attacks kill 5, injure 8, including children, across Ukraine over past day

Russian attacks across Ukraine killed five civilians and injured eight more, including two children, over the past 24 hours, the regional authorities reported on June 18.

Russia targeted nine out of 25 Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv oblasts.

Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported that the Russian attacks killed two civilians and injured three, including a child.

The eastern region is experiencing the most severe fighting during Russia’s war. The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed 1,565 civilians and injured 3,705 more in the region since Feb. 24, 2022, according to the report.

The casualties count is not final, as it is impossible to establish the death toll in Mariupol and Volnovakha, which are occupied by Russia.

Russian attacks killed one civilian and injured four, including a child, in Kherson Oblast as Russia hit the region 68 times with artillery, mortars, multiple rocket launchers, drones, and air strikes, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on June 18.

The southern region is subjected to daily Russian attacks, causing civilian casualties and infrastructure damage, since Ukrainian forces liberated the regional capital and the west bank of the Dnipro River in November last year.

Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on June 18 that Russian forces hit a civilian car with an unidentified anti-tank guided missile, killing two people.

The deliberate killing of civilians at any time and in any place breaches the Geneva Conventions and constitutes a war crime.

Over the past day, Russian forces hit four communities in the northeastern region, damaging houses, gas facilities, power lines, a park, and a root cellar, according to the report.

In the early morning of June 18, Russian forces hit the residential area in the Kupiansk community, damaging a house. No casualties were reported, the governor said.

EU top justice official: We aren’t waiting for war’s end to prosecute Russian crimes

As Russia’s war against Ukraine rages on, the European Union’s top justice official says the EU and its partners want to bring all perpetrators of international crimes to justice. “Not only war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, but also the crime of aggression,” European Commissioner f…

The Kyiv IndependentAlexander Khrebet

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Yurii Malashko reported that Russian forces attacked 20 settlements in the region over the past day, injuring one civilian in the front-line town of Orikhiv.

Russia hit Chernihiv Oblast 16 times with mortars over the border, the Northern Command reported.

Russian forces also hit bordering communities in the neighboring Symy Oblast 45 times with mortars, according to the military.

On June 18, Russian forces attacked the northern region 12 times, damaging houses, Sumy Oblast Military administration reported.

No casualties were reported in Sumy and Chernihiv oblasts.

Both northern regions are subjected to daily Russian attacks over the border.

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Serhii Lysak reported two Russian loitering drone overnight attacks. Iranian-made Shakhed kamikaze drones were downed, according to the report.

No casualties were reported in the eastern region.

Russian forces attacked southern Mykolaiv Oblast with loitering munition and artillery, causing no casualties or damage, Governor Vitalii Kim reported on June 18.

Russian forces attacked four settlements in Luhansk Oblast as they try to fully occupy the easternmost, Governor Artem Lysohor reported on June 18.

No casualties were reported.