THREE people are dead after Ukraine sent shells down on a Russian village – with Putin striking back by blitzing a hotel.
Two people were first killed after Ukraine shelled a small village in the Russian border region of Bryansk earlier today.
ReutersRussia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, this evening[/caption]
ReutersPeople stand near the site of a Russian missile strike[/caption]
Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said earlier that one man had died but later announced another person was killed.
He said: “At present, two civilians have been killed by the Ukrainian armed forces.”
The attack took place in the Russian village of Chausy, some three miles from the Ukrainian border, he said.
Tonight Putin struck back – with one person reportedly killed and four others injured when a Russian missile struck a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
National police said an Iskander missile hit the city at 7:20pm.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy : “Zaporizhzhia. The city suffers daily from Russian shelling. A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile.”
Anatoliy Kurtev, Zaporizhzhia city council’s secretary, said the 14 injured included two children.
Pictures and video shared by officials showed a big crater, wrecked cars and a badly damaged four-storey building with a hotel sign.
Local media reported that the damaged building is Reikartz Hotel in the city centre on the bank of the Dnipro River.
It was the second strike on Zaporizhzhia in as many days. Two young women and a man were killed and nine other people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on Wednesday.
It comes after Russia today claimed to have shot down two drones over Moscow just hours after a deadly explosion at Putin’s reported stealth bomber plant.
The capital has been enveloped by chaos in the last 24 hours as aerial assaults wreaked havoc on the warlord’s own soil.
Russia‘s Defence Ministry blamed Ukraine for the strikes and branded the latest incident a “terrorist attack.”
Air defences destroyed the drones and no damage or casualties were reported, officials said.
It is the 12th time in the last three weeks that Moscow has claimed to have paralysed aerial assaults on the capital.
Ukraine seems to be pushing the conflict to Vladimir Putin‘s doorstep as the nation tries to reclaim seized territory in its counter-offensive.
Ukraine are bringing the conflict to Vladimir Putin’s doorstep