Kyiv, Ukraine –
The death toll from a missile attack on apartment buildings in a southern Ukrainian city has risen to 11 as more Russian missiles and, for the first time, explosive-laden drones struck Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Friday.
As war sparked by Russia’s invasion of its neighbor in February, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights organizations in Russia and Ukraine, and to a jailed activist in Russian ally Belarus.
Asked by a reporter if the award shared by Belarusian rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties should be seen as a “birthday present” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who turned 70 on Friday, committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen said no.
“The award is not addressed to President Putin, not for his birthday or in any other sense, except that his government, like the government of Belarus, represents an authoritarian government that represses human rights activists,” Reiss-Andersen said. .
Putin this week illegally claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory, including the Zaporizhzhia region, which is home to a sprawling nuclear power plant under Russian occupation; the city of the same name remains under Ukrainian control.
With its military experiencing a series of searing battlefield mishaps in recent weeks, Russia has deployed Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian targets. Disposable, unmanned “kamikaze drones” are cheaper and less sophisticated than missiles, but have proven effective in causing damage to targets on the ground.
Regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh said Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones damaged two infrastructure facilities in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the first time they had been used there. He said the missiles also hit the city again, injuring one person.
Ukraine’s Emergency Services said the death toll from Russian S-300 missile attacks on the city the day before had risen to 11 and another 21 people were rescued from the rubble of destroyed apartments.
“This was not a random hit, but a series of missiles aimed at multi-story buildings,” Starukh wrote on his Telegram channel.
Russia reportedly converted the S-300 from its original use as a long-range anti-aircraft weapon to a ground-attack missile due to a shortage of other more suitable weapons.
The Ukrainian military said most of the drones it shot down on Thursday and Friday were the Iranian-made Shahed-136. However, the weapons are unlikely to significantly affect the course of the war, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.
“They have used many drones against civilian targets in the rear, probably hoping to generate non-linear effects through terror. Such efforts are not succeeding,” the think tank analysts wrote.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ability to capture and recommission Russian tanks and other equipment remains a major factor in driving its forces to repel the invasion.
Ukrainian forces have captured at least 440 tanks and some 650 armored vehicles since the start of the war, the British Defense Ministry said on Friday.
“The failure of Russian crews to destroy intact equipment before withdrawing or surrendering highlights their poor state of training and low levels of battle discipline,” the British said. “With Russian formations under severe pressure in various sectors and troops increasingly demoralized, Russia is likely to continue to lose heavy weapons.”
The Ukrainian military also said on Friday that 500 former criminals have been mobilized to bolster Russian ranks in the eastern Donetsk region, where Ukrainian forces have retook part of the territory. The new units are commanded by officers drawn from law enforcement, the army said.
US President Joe Biden said Thursday that Putin has raised the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” to the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials talk about the possibility of using nuclear weapons. tactics after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion. from Ukraine
Speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, Biden said Putin was “a guy I know pretty well” and that the Russian leader “wasn’t kidding when he talked about the use of tactical nuclear or biological or chemical weapons.”
In the Czech capital, European Union leaders met at Prague Castle to try to bridge significant differences over a cap on the price of natural gas as winter approaches and Russia’s war against Ukraine fuels a great energy crisis.
As the Europeans step up their support for Ukraine in the form of arms, money and aid, Russia has reduced or cut off natural gas supplies to 13 member countries, causing gas and electricity prices to rise that could rise higher as demand peaks during the cold months.
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Associated Press reporter Hanna Arhirova in Ukraine contributed to this report.