Ukraine attacks two Russian-controlled areas, killing 26

International Desk: Ukrainian forces attacked Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine. 26 people were killed. Many more people were injured. The attacks and casualties occurred in the Russian-controlled Luhansk and Kherson regions of Ukraine.  AFP reported this information in a report on Saturday (June 8).

Authorities said at least 26 people were killed and many others wounded Friday in a Ukrainian offensive in Russian-controlled Lugansk and parts of Kherson region, according to reports.  In February 2022, the Russian army began military operations in Ukraine. Then, in September of the same year, Moscow connected Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions with the Russian mainland.

Although Russia does not control any of these regions completely, Russia claims to annex them to Russian territory.  Vladimir Saldo, head of Kherson's Russian-appointed authority, wrote in a telegram that a shop in the village of Sadov in southern Kherson region was destroyed. A large number of visitors and employees were staying there.

Saldo told Russian media that a Humerus missile hit the area shortly after residents of neighboring houses rushed to help the victims. A total of 22 people were killed and 15 others were injured. Saldo condemned the "heinous killing of civilians" by Western arms supplies to Ukraine. Earlier on Friday, Russian-appointed officials in Lugansk said four people were killed and more than 40 injured when a Ukrainian missile struck an apartment block in the main city of the same name in the eastern region. 

The city of Luhansk was hit by a "massive" missile attack on Friday morning, according to Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-appointed head of the region. The government of the Moscow-backed region said in a telegram that part of an apartment block there collapsed after the attack and "the bodies of four dead civilians were removed from the rubble".

Regional Health Minister Natalya Pashchenko said 46 people have been treated. Among the injured were an eight-year-old boy and three teenagers. The condition of 10 of the injured is 'critical'.