Russia launched a sweeping overnight air assault on Ukraine, injuring at least four railway workers and forcing NATO member Poland to scramble defence aircraft, Ukrainian and Polish authorities said on Wednesday.
The wave of strikes coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s presence in Beijing, where he attended a military parade to mark the end of World War Two. At the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that the world was facing a stark choice between peace and war.
Air raid alerts sounded for hours across Ukraine, with explosions reported in nine of its 24 regions, stretching from Kyiv to Lviv and Volyn in the west, Ukrainian officials and local media said.
Ukraine’s western neighbour Poland said it had activated its own and allied aircraft in response to the situation. "The Russian Federation once again is carrying out strikes on targets located on the territory of Ukraine," Poland’s operational command stated in a post on X.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway company reported that four of its workers were injured and hospitalised in the central region of Kirovohrad. It warned of significant delays to dozens of services after rail infrastructure was damaged in the strikes.
Also Read : Xi and Putin discuss bilateral relations in Beijing
Separately, Ukraine’s emergency services said five people had been injured and 28 houses damaged in a Russian strike on the Znamianka community, also in Kirovohrad region.
Further west, in Khmelnytskyi, public transport services experienced what local officials described as "significant schedule disruptions." The regional governor reported that the assault caused fires and damage to residential buildings, among other facilities.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow. Both Russia and Ukraine continue to deny deliberately targeting civilians during strikes in the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Follow us
