KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine said on Wednesday that Russia had targeted more than 100 settlements in the past 24 hours – more than in any single day so far this year.
Moscow has unleashed millions of artillery shells on Ukrainian cities, towns and villages along the frontlines since it launched its offensive last February, reducing several across the eastern part of the country to rubble.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a post on social media, stating “Over the last 24 hours, the enemy shelled 118 settlements in 10 regions. This is the highest number of cities and villages that have come under attack since the start of the year,”
Kyiv also reported a Russian assault on an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, a central industrial city.
There were no casualties but it required nearly 100 firefighters several hours to extinguish the resulting blaze, as reported by Klymenko.
Kyiv and the West fear Russia’s potential escalation of attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of the cold winter – as Moscow did last year.
The overnight shelling in the north-eastern Kharkiv region claimed one life, and another was killed in the southern Kherson region, according to local officials.
