Kyiv suffers second night of drone attacks; Ukraine claims gains in Dnieper River battle

Russian shelling killed two people in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Monday morning, according to local officials.

Sharing images of damaged vehicles on Telegram, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces shelled the parking lot of a private transport company in Kherson, killing two drivers and injuring another person.

“Over the past day, the enemy launched 51 shellings, firing 323 shells from mortars, artillery, ‘Grads’, tanks, S-60, RPG, UAVs and aviation,” Prokudin said in a separate post, adding that 30 shells had been fired into the city of Kherson overnight.

“The Russian military took aim at the residential quarters of the populated areas of the region. As a result of Russian aggression, 6 people were injured, including 1 child,” he said.

CNBC could not verify reports on the ground.

– Elliot Smith

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv on Monday for a surprise visit, in which he will hold a series of meetings with senior leaders, the Department of Defense confirmed.

The visit is Austin’s second since Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking Congressional approval for a fresh aid package to Ukraine, but the funding is currently in limbo as Congress is on recess and the bill has been held up by opposition from some Republican lawmakers.

– Elliot Smith

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday that he had replaced the commander of the military’s medical forces, and called for operational changes.

In a nightly video address and accompanying post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said he had replaced Major General Tetiana Ostaschenko with Major General Anatoliy Kazmirchuk, on the recommendation of Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov.

“The task is obvious – and this has been repeatedly discussed in society, in particular in the community of our combat medics – a fundamentally new level of medical support for our military is needed,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram, according to a translation.

“From high-quality tourniquets to full digitalization and transparency in supply, from high-quality training to sincere communication with combat medics in those units where medical care is organized truly properly and truly effectively. The experience of the effectiveness of specific units should be extended to the entire defense forces.”

– Elliot Smith

Ukrainian army spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk told Ukrainian television, according to multiple local media reports, that forces on the Russian-controlled bank of the Dnieper River in the southern region of Kherson had been pushed back by between 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) and 8 kilometers.

Fierce fighting has erupted over the past week after Ukrainian forces crossed the vast river into the Russian-occupied eastern bank.

Ukrainian forces on Friday claimed to have secured multiple bridgeheads on the eastern side of the river, which divides the partially occupied region.

– Elliot Smith

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that a barrage of ammunition was fired by Shahed drones on the capital overnight.

“The enemy’s UAVs were launched by many groups and came to attack Kyiv in waves, from different directions, while constantly changing the vectors of movement along the route,” Popko said.

Air raid sirens were sounded several times in Kyiv, and no casualties or critical damage were recorded in the city according to currently available information, he added.

– Elliot Smith

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Finland had chosen a path of confrontation and that Russia saw this as a mistake, state media outlet TASS reported.

One can “only express deep regret that the Finnish authorities have taken the path of destroying bilateral relations,” Peskov told reporters, according to a Google translation of his quotes.

“Russia has never in modern history threatened Finland, we had no reason for any confrontation. Now they have chosen this path,” he said, adding that this was a “big mistake” in the Kremlin’s view.

Finland is set to close its border with Russia and erect barriers at midnight local time on Friday, the Finnish Border Guard said.

— Sophie Kiderlin