KHERSON, Ukraine: When Russian artillery pounded a market in southern Ukraine on Tuesday, a safe was blown from the windowsill of the pharmacy where Anya works, hitting her in the head.
She believes it was a stroke of luck.
“The safe hit me and saved me at the same time, because on the other side of the safe there were a lot of holes,” she told AFP, suggesting the metal box had shielded her from other projectiles that had been blasted toward her.
Six people were killed by the Russian strike, which hit a market in the city of Kherson around 9:00 am (0600 GMT), according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
It was the latest attack on a city that has borne the brunt of Moscow’s war for more than two and a half years.
Captured in the first weeks of the invasion in early 2022, residents that stayed there spent more than eight months living under Russian occupation.
In September 2022, Moscow claimed to have annexed the entire Kherson region, despite not having full control over it.
Facing military setbacks and stretched resources, it then withdrew its forces from Kherson city, the regional capital, in November 2022, retreating across the Dnipro river.
The waterway now serves as a de facto front line snaking through southern Ukraine — one that puts Kherson well within reach of Russian artillery stationed on the opposite bank.
Deadly strikes are frequent and locals live on edge.
“Everything happened very quickly. We didn’t understand anything. We only heard an explosion. It went dark, there was dust and something hit me on the head,” said Anya, recalling the blast.
She had stuck a plaster to her forehead where the safe had struck her.
When an AFP video journalist arrived at the market after the strike, debris and broken glass were strewn across the ground and pools of blood were congealing under the autumn sun.
Crates of fruit and vegetables lay on the pavement, abandoned as their sellers fled for cover.
“All those people who suffered, they worked here,” Anya told AFP. “They were our clients, people we knew.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine abandon the entire Kherson region — as well as parts of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Lugansk that Ukraine still controls — as a precondition to peace talks
Kherson local Gennady was in a hardware kiosk when the artillery hit.
“I didn’t even notice I’d fallen to the floor,” he told AFP.
“Everything here was black. And what was outside — I was afraid to go out.”
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‘Everything black’: Russian strike kills six at Kherson market
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‘Everything black’: Russian strike kills six at Kherson market
- Deadly strikes are frequent and locals live on edge
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine abandon the entire Kherson region
Russian strikes cut heating to thousands of buildings in Kyiv amid freezing cold
Russia launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine early on Tuesday, knocking out power and heating supplies to thousands of apartment buildings in Kyiv amid freezing temperatures, Ukrainian officials said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Russian attacks cut heating supplies to 5,635 multi-story residential apartment buildings.
One person was wounded, debris damaged a school building, and water supplies were disrupted on the left bank of the city of more than 3 million people, he said.
Regional officials said one person was killed in attacks in the wider Kyiv region and two petrol stations damaged.
It was the second major attack on the energy sector and other critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital so far this month as temperatures hover well below zero Celsius.
“Thousands of houses are without heating in Kyiv at -15°C outside, following Russia’s mass strike overnight,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a message posted on X.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s barbaric strike this morning is a wake-up call to world leaders gathering in Davos: support for the Ukrainian people is urgent.”
Sybiha reiterated the call for urgent additional energy assistance, air defense, and interceptors from Ukraine’s allies.
As the war with Russia approaches its four-year mark, diplomatic efforts to find a way to end the conflict have yielded no tangible results so far despite pressure from US President Donald Trump on both Kyiv and Moscow.
Kyiv has already been suffering from severe power and heating outages following previous strikes on the city earlier in January, and dozens of repair crews have worked around the clock for more than a week to restore supplies to residents.
Klitschko said that out of the buildings which were hit in the latest attack, 80 percent had already been struck in the previous attack.
Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a lawmaker from the Holos party, said on the Telegram app that parliament’s support office would work remotely today due to a lack of water and heating in the building. There were no parliamentary sessions scheduled on Tuesday.
Russian strikes also damaged energy and other critical infrastructure in Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Sumy regions, Sybiha said.
In the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, a production facility was hit, and two people were wounded, officials said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Russian attacks cut heating supplies to 5,635 multi-story residential apartment buildings.
One person was wounded, debris damaged a school building, and water supplies were disrupted on the left bank of the city of more than 3 million people, he said.
Regional officials said one person was killed in attacks in the wider Kyiv region and two petrol stations damaged.
It was the second major attack on the energy sector and other critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital so far this month as temperatures hover well below zero Celsius.
“Thousands of houses are without heating in Kyiv at -15°C outside, following Russia’s mass strike overnight,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a message posted on X.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s barbaric strike this morning is a wake-up call to world leaders gathering in Davos: support for the Ukrainian people is urgent.”
Sybiha reiterated the call for urgent additional energy assistance, air defense, and interceptors from Ukraine’s allies.
As the war with Russia approaches its four-year mark, diplomatic efforts to find a way to end the conflict have yielded no tangible results so far despite pressure from US President Donald Trump on both Kyiv and Moscow.
Kyiv has already been suffering from severe power and heating outages following previous strikes on the city earlier in January, and dozens of repair crews have worked around the clock for more than a week to restore supplies to residents.
Klitschko said that out of the buildings which were hit in the latest attack, 80 percent had already been struck in the previous attack.
Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a lawmaker from the Holos party, said on the Telegram app that parliament’s support office would work remotely today due to a lack of water and heating in the building. There were no parliamentary sessions scheduled on Tuesday.
Russian strikes also damaged energy and other critical infrastructure in Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Sumy regions, Sybiha said.
In the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, a production facility was hit, and two people were wounded, officials said.
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