Russia strikes cities from east to west Ukraine, starting fires and killing at least two people

According to Ukrainian officials, Russian missiles bombarded cities across Ukraine early Thursday morning, causing fires, killing at least two people, and burying dozens beneath rubble. The early-morning missile strike was Russia’s heaviest in almost a month, and it occurred a day after claims of sabotage at a Russian military base outside Moscow in Chkalovsk. It also coincided with the United Nations General Assembly summit in New York, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a speech and presented a Ukrainian “peace formula,” and came on the International Day of Peace. On the same day, Poland said that it would cease providing weapons to Ukraine in order to modernise its own military. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that the decision had nothing to do with a temporary prohibition on Ukrainian grain imports or arms transfers via Poland. A disagreement over whether Ukrainian grain should be allowed to access the domestic markets of Poland and other European Union nations has strained Kyiv-Warsaw relations to their worst point since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. “We are no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine because now we will arm ourselves with the most modern weapons,” he said in an interview on the private TV broadcaster Polsat News late Wednesday. Morawiecki stressed that Poland would defend its economic interests but added that the dispute over grain imports would not hurt Ukraine’s security. He said a NATO and US hub in the Polish city of Rzeszow used for transporting weapons into Ukraine would not be affected. “We are not going to risk the security of Ukraine,” he said. Poland has transferred large amounts of its older weapons to Ukraine and has been upgrading its own inventory with new equipment purchased from South Korea and other countries. In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, near the front lines, two people were killed Thursday and at least five injured after a strike hit a residential building, said regional Governor Oleksand Prokudin. Seven people were injured in Kyiv, including a 9-year-old girl, reported Mayor Vitalii Klitschko, and some residential and commercial buildings were damaged. The Ukrainian Air Force said it had intercepted 36 of 43 cruise missiles launched deep into Ukraine. Closer to the the front lines, Kherson was struck with S-300 missiles and Kharkiv was likely targeted with other, shorter-ranged, weapons. At least six strikes hit the Slobidskyi district of Kharkiv, damaging civilian infrastructure, said regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov. The city’s mayor added that two people had been sent to hospitals. At least 10 people were injured and at least one person was rescued from under rubble in Cherkasy, in central Ukraine, according to Ihor Klymenko, minister of internal affairs of Ukraine. Up to 23 people may still be buried under rubble in Cherkasy after the morning strike, said Cherkasy regional Governor Ihor Taburets. Rescue services were working to clear the debris. An industrial zone was hit in the western region of Lviv, damaging buildings and starting a fire, but no information on casualties was immediately available, Klymenko added. Regional Governor Vitalii Koval reported strikes in the city of Rivne in the northwest region of the same name, without immediately providing details. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said 22 drones were taken down overnight by air defense systems, 19 above Russian-annexed Crimea and three others in the Kursk, Belgorod and Oryol regions near Ukraine. The defense ministry did not say whether there were any casualties.