ALBAWABA - Ukraine and Russia traded major strikes on Saturday in the latest escalation of the war, with Kyiv saying it sank a Russian cargo ship belonging to the state nuclear enterprise Rosatom and Moscow launching a huge missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Ukrainian military had targeted and sunk a sanctioned Russian cargo ship. Russia later said two Ukrainian drones hit the vessel, the Yanina, near the port of Novorossiysk and sank it.
Rosatom chairman Alexei Likhachev said all 17 crew members were successfully rescued and that the vessel was carrying civilian cargo including food and construction equipment. He criticized the incident, calling it an act of maritime piracy.
The event comes amid an increase in strikes against commercial ships in the Black Sea, with Ukraine stepping up attacks on Russian vessels and Russia stepping up raids on Ukrainian ports, especially Odesa.
In the meantime, Russia carried out one of its latest big-scale air strikes on Kyiv, launching dozens of missiles and drones around the capital.
Ukrainian officials say the strike killed nine people, wounded scores more and damaged residential structures, a school and the Lithuanian Embassy.
Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched 35 missiles in the attack, including 27 ballistic missiles, and 185 drones. Ukraine could only shoot down one of the ballistic missiles, he added, pointing to a lack of interceptor missiles for its Patriot air defence systems.
The Ukrainian president once more appealed to Western partners to supply additional air-defense systems and interceptor missiles, saying more robust defences are urgently needed to safeguard civilians and important infrastructure.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted military-industrial infrastructure and logistics hubs, and that the strikes were focused at military, not civilian targets.
