At least 8 injured after Russian strike in Ukraine’s Kherson, dozens of buildings damaged

At least eight people have been injured after heavy shelling by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday (Oct 27) which as per a senior city official has also destroyed and damaged around 15 buildings, reported Reuters. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president said Russian forces have lost at least a brigade worth of troops amid its new offensive against the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. 

In a separate attack, Ukraine’s interior minister on Friday said a Russian missile hit a fire department building in the northern region of Kharkiv injuring at least eight rescuers. 

Roman Mrochko, head of the city’s military administration, took to Telegram and said three among those injured are being treated in hospital. He also said that two buildings in the city had been destroyed, three suffered heavy damage and 10 sustained some damage.

“In the evening the entire city trembled,” said the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Telegram, adding that the “enemy targeted the very centre of Kherson.” The emergency services said their workers rescued two women, in their 70s and 80s, who had been blocked in a building. 

Another person was wounded when Russian forces shelled Beryslav, a town further north on the Dnipro River in the Kherson Region, according to Ukraine’s Suspilne public broadcaster. 

According to the Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko, the attack took place in the Ukrainian town of Izium which left eight rescuers injured as well as the “building itself and 13 pieces of equipment were also damaged.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces have lost at least a brigade worth of troops in a bid to take over the eastern city of Avdiivka. 

This comes as Russia in the past weeks has ramped up attacks in the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region and the northeastern city of Kupyansk, in what is being viewed as a new offensive by the Russian forces in a bid to move the front line forward before winter.

“The invaders made several attempts to surround Avdiivka, but each time our soldiers stopped them and threw them back, causing painful losses. In these cases, the enemy lost at least a brigade,” Zelensky told United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a phone call, according to the president’s office. The size of a brigade can vary between 1,500 and 8,000 troops.

A report by the New York Times, back in August, citing US officials said the number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine that began in February 2022 was nearing 500,000. 

However, the officials warned that the number is strictly an estimate due to the lack of official figures. 

In an update on Friday, the Ukrainian General Staff said the military “steadfastly holds the defence and causes significant losses” to Russian troops, adding Moscow was not giving up on its attempts to encircle the town.

(With inputs from agencies)

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