Kiev [Ukraine]/Moscow [Russia], November 13: On the anniversary of the expulsion of the Russian army from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky commemorated the soldiers and civilians who helped to liberate the city.
According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian army will continue to respond to attacks by Russian troops on the Kherson region in the future.
"This week has shown that we will get the occupiers both in the Black Sea and on the territory of Crimea and everywhere else," the president said in his evening address on Saturday.
Kiev brought the eponymous capital of the Kherson region back under its control around eight months after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. However, part of the region is still occupied by Russian troops and is heavily contested.
Last week, Ukraine attacked and severely damaged several ships of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Moscow is using the ships stationed on the Crimea peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014, to fire on southern Ukraine. Civilians are repeatedly killed in the process.
On Saturday, Zelensky also congratulated Polish President Andrzej Duda on Poland's Independence Day - and thanked Warsaw for its support for Ukraine. "Ukraine and Poland must stand together so that our peoples remain free forever," said Zelensky. Poland, an EU and NATO member state, is one of Ukraine's most important political and military supporters.
There was no let-up from the Russian side on Saturday as Ukraine's military said Moscow unleashed a wave of drones and missiles on several regions overnight, including the capital Kiev.
Of the 31 drones launched by Russia, 19 were intercepted, said the air force, which did not provide information on the type of drones shot down.
Two drones hit a building and started a fire in the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, local authorities said.
Kiev reported repelling drone attacks, as missiles were also aimed toward the region.
Mayor VitaliKlitschko said on Saturday morning that explosions had taken place near the city and called on people to seek shelter in bunkers. So far, no casualties have been reported.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman YuriyIhnat said that the missiles fired by Russia were ballistic missiles, which are more difficult to detect by radar due to their speed.
Two Iskander missiles hit a field in the greater Kiev region and damaged five houses, authorities said.
According to the authorities, five houses were damaged by the blast wave from the detonation. It was the first attack of its kind in more than 50 days, they said.
According to Ukrainian reports, Russian artillery also shelled residential buildings in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in the afternoon. According to local authorities, one man died and two women were injured.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian shelling killed a 61-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man in the city of Toretsk, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office.
Russia has been attacking Ukraine from the air with drones, rockets and cruise missiles for more than 20 months as part of its invasion.
In many places, the air defence works thanks to Western defence systems. Nevertheless, there are occasional strikes. The destruction is sometimes massive. Time and again, people are killed or injured.
Source: Qatar Tribune