Kyiv under ballistic, cruise missile attacks: Ukraine

Kyiv, Aug 18 (IANS) Russia fired ballistic and cruise missiles at the Ukrainian capital early on Sunday with neither casualties nor damage reported, the Kyiv City Military Administration said in a statement.

At about 5 a.m. local time, ballistic missiles were launched at Kyiv, but they were intercepted on the city’s outskirts, reports Xinhua news agency, citing the statement.

“This is already the third ballistic strike on the capital in August, with an exact interval of six days between each attack,” it said.

Two hours later, the Russian forces fired cruise missiles against Kyiv from the southern direction, but the missiles were destroyed by the air defence, the city military administration said.

Earlier in the week, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said that Ukraine’s operation in Russia’s Kursk region is linked to possible peace talks between the two countries.

Ukraine is not interested in occupying Russian territories, he said.

Ukraine started a military operation in the Kursk region on August 6.

However, in response, Russian President Vladimir Putin had said Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s border would receive a “worthy response,” with the Russian military’s primary task being to remove the Ukrainian forces from Russian territories.

–IANS

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