Russian strike kills six as Ukraine marks Defenders Day
A Russian strike on a southern Ukraine market killed six
people on Tuesday, authorities said, as the nation held a moment of silence
marking a major public holiday honouring its troops.
Debris, broken glass and bodies were strewn around the
market in Kherson city, which lies on the western bank of the Dnipro river, a
de facto front line between Russian forces in the east and Ukrainian
forces in the west.
The regional prosecutor's office had reported seven killed,
but later lowered the toll to six, saying that doctors stabilised one of those
presumed dead.
"Around 9 am (0600 GMT) on October 1, Russian forces
struck the centre of Kherson, allegedly with cannon artillery. The shelling
took place near a local market and a public transport stop," it said on
Telegram.
Moscow's troops withdrew from Kherson in November 2022,
retreating to the other side of the Dnipro, but they have kept up intense
shelling of the city.
In the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region a Russian strike
killed one and wounded 32, Ukraine's interior ministry said.
The deadly attack came as Ukraine held a nationwide moment
of silence remembering the country's war dead on Defenders Day, the third since
Russia invaded in 2022.
Traffic came to a halt in the capital Kyiv as dozens of
residents held portraits of loved ones who had died in the war, some weeping.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the army in a speech to
soldiers, acknowledging that his troops had suffered "painful
moments" on what he said was a "difficult" path to victory.
"Inside we are all screaming with pain for each fallen
hero, screaming with hatred for the evil that has come to our land," he
said.
Neither Ukraine or Russia disclose how many of their
soldiers have been killed in the conflict, but independent estimates put the
number in the tens of thousands on each side.
Russia has been advancing on the eastern front for months,
and on Tuesday claimed to capture two more frontline villages including one
just 13 kilometres (eight miles) from the key Ukrainian supply hub of Pokrovsk.
Responding to reports that Russian troops were closing in on
another key Ukrainian-held town, Vugledar, the Kremlin said Russian President
Vladimir Putin regularly received battlefield reports.
Moscow has pressed ahead even as Kyiv's forces mount an
offensive into the Russian region of Kursk.
Russian authorities have also waged an intense crackdown
against dissent at home, announcing Tuesday that they had detained 39 people
including children accused of backing "Ukrainian terrorist" groups.
The Ukrainian army is meanwhile suffering from fatigue after
more than two and a half years of war and relentless Russian bombardment.
As Moscow pressed ahead in the east, Russia announced plans
on Monday to boost its defence budget by almost 30 percent next year as it
drives resources into the Ukraine war.
Russia had already ramped up military spending to levels not
seen since the Soviet era, pumping out missiles and drones and paying lucrative
salaries to its hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
The latest planned increase in spending will take Russia's
defence budget to a 13.5 trillion rubles ($145 billion) in 2025 -- more than
the outlays on welfare and education combined.
The Kremlin on Tuesday denied that Moscow had skewed its
priorities.
"This is a carefully balanced, calibrated budget. The
state maintains the fulfilment of social obligations," spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said.
Ukraine, which has also been forced to accelerate its
military spending, will allocate more than 60 percent of the country's entire
budget to defence and security next year.
But Russia's $145 billion defence budget dwarfs Ukraine's at
$54 billion, with Kyiv reliant on Western military and financial aid to
continue fighting.
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