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| Ukrainian Official says In a Day, Russian Troops Bombed This Ukrainian Region 200 Times |
Kiev - The governor of a region in northeastern Ukraine said the Russian military carried out day-long bombings on several cities that caused no casualties but caused damage to buildings and crops.
Dmytro Zhivytskyi, governor of the administrative district of Sumy, said in a Telegram post on Friday that Russian forces launched a total of nearly 200 missile strikes that began in the morning and lasted well into the evening.
The allegations are just the latest involving Russian troops bombarding Sumy, which borders Russia. Zhivytskyi said in his post that the attack began at 11:00 am local time Friday in the Yunakivka and Khotin areas involving mortar shelling, salvo of rockets, artillery and air strikes. "Wheat fields were burned as a result of the attack and the damage is being calculated," he was quoted as saying by Newsweek.
According to Zhivytskyi, Russian troops after 1 pm targeted the village of Mykolaivka with a total of 60 attacks. In the afternoon, Esman was attacked and fired upon with more than 40 strikes. "At least 2 houses, fences and outbuildings were damaged by the shooting," Zhivytskyi said in the post.
Finally, according to Zhivytskyi, Russian troops began shelling Shalyhyne at 18:30 local time, which was followed by jet artillery. Other parts of Ukraine, especially the Black Sea coast and the Donbas region, have seen more intense fighting during the war.
But Zhivytskyi and other Ukrainian officials have reported several incidents in which the Sumy administrative district was targeted by Russian forces. Earlier this week, Zhivytskyi said the Russian military opened fire on three towns in the region, causing no casualties but causing damage to homes and commercial buildings. In June, he said Russian troops wounded a child with a phosphorus bomb.
In April, Zhivytskyi reported Russia shelled the area more than 50 times in half an hour. As a result of the attack, Ukrainian officials barred anyone from coming within a kilometer, or less than half a mile, of the border with Russia. Newsweek earlier this month reported that Ukrainian officials were investigating several alleged war crimes against Russia, including 2,000 illegal deaths and injuries of civilians, 166 cases of torture and about 5,000 cases of damage to civilian objects.
Ukraine's attorney general's office said it had identified about 600 Russians, mostly soldiers, for war crimes that included rape, torture and murder. Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes and have made similar accusations against Ukraine.
Last month, Mikhail Mizintsev, a Russian defense official, told the TASS news agency that Ukraine was sending operations to Sumy and other regions to threaten citizens sympathetic to Russia.