The last:
- Heavy explosions were heard in Kyiv after Ukraine claimed responsibility for an attack on a Russian warship.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has hit a missile factory on the outskirts of Kyiv.
- Russia says Ukrainian shelling has hit two of its border areas.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday it had hit a military target near Kyiv last night with cruise missiles and promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.
The ministry said its forces had also taken full control of the Ilyich steel plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has been surrounded by Russian troops for weeks.
Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv on Friday, appearing to be among the most significant there since Russian troops withdrew from the area earlier this month in preparation for battles south and east.
The blasts were reportedly heard after the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Moscow, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after being severely damaged.
WATCH Ukraine claims missile attack on key Russian warship hit Moscow:
Ukraine says a missile attack on a key Russian warship is a blow to Moscow
Russia’s flagship in its Black Sea Fleet – “Moscow” – was destroyed by two Ukrainian missiles, according to the Ukrainian army. The damage dealt a severe blow to the Russian navy, reducing its ability to launch a landing attack. 2:21
Ukraine claims that the damage to “Moscow” is the result of one of its missile strikes. The Russian Ministry of Defense speaks only of a fire that broke out and of exploded ammunition.
The defense ministry said in a statement that its missile strikes on Kyiv last night had hit the Vizar factory near the Ukrainian capital, which they said had produced and repaired missiles, including anti-ship missiles.
He promised more strikes on Kyiv.
A torn Ukrainian flag hangs on a wire in front of a residential building destroyed in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on Thursday. (Alexander Ermochenko / Associated Press)
“The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory by the Kiev nationalist regime,” the ministry said in a statement.
Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of carrying out air strikes on Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine, and say seven people were injured in the attack and about 100 homes were damaged. The Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed that any targets have been struck in Russia, and the reports of the Russian authorities cannot be verified independently.
Russia’s TASS news agency, citing regional authorities, said on Friday that more than 20 buildings and a school had been damaged in a Ukrainian shelling of a Russian village in the Belgorod region on Thursday.
Russia says its forces shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter, which it said attacked the village of Klimovo in the Bryansk region on April 14 and also shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi-27.
A group of up to 30 Polish mercenaries has also been killed, the statement said.
Women carry their belongings on a damaged street in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Thursday. (Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters)
Russia launched what it calls its “special military operation” on February 24th. Ukraine has fiercely resisted, and the West has imposed broad sanctions on Russia.
In addition, on Friday, Dmitry Chubenko, a spokesman for the district prosecutor’s office, told the Ukrainian news website Suspilne that seven people were killed and 27 injured after Russian forces opened fire on civilian buses in the Ukrainian village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv. He said Ukrainian authorities were working to establish the circumstances surrounding the attack.
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