Moscow escalated its attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing a deadly strike on a blood transfusion centre as a “war crime”.
A separate strike struck a key factory, both attacks coming just hours after Kyiv hit a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait.
The attacks were the latest since Moscow exited a deal last month that had ensured Ukrainian grain exports despite the ongoing conflict.
Russian forces struck the blood transfusion centre in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine, Zelensky said, adding that “dead and wounded are reported”.
A “guided air bomb” hit the centre in Kupiansk, a city a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border, said Zelensky.
“Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” he wrote on social media, adding: “This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression.”
The strike came shortly after Zelensky said Russian missiles had hit a facility of the Ukrainian aeronautics group Motor Sich, a maker of plane and helicopter engines and other components.
It is one of several companies requisitioned by the government since Moscow’s invasion.
Strikes also hit the region of Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, around 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Kyiv.
The region, home to a major Ukrainian airbase, has been regularly targeted by Russian strikes in recent months.
In his evening address, Zelensky remained defiant, saying that “no matter how many such Russian attacks there are, they will still do nothing for the enemy”.
– Attack on fuel tanker –
Earlier Saturday, Ukraine claimed it “blew up” a Russian tanker, the “SIG”, that was transporting fuel for Russian troops, a Ukrainian security source told AFP.
The tanker was hit at around 11:20 pm (2020 GMT) on Friday south of the Kerch Strait, Russia’s Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport said.
The ship was holed at the waterline in the area of the engine room but was still afloat, the agency said.
In a video obtained by AFP purporting to show the attack, a vessel is seen approaching a large ship before the connection cuts off.
The Ukrainian source said the “successful special operation”, which involved a naval drone and explosives, was carried out jointly with the navy in Ukrainian territorial waters.
The SIG oil and chemical tanker is under US sanctions for supplying jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria, who are supporting President Bashar al-Assad.
