Live blog: Russian missiles target Ukraine, injuring civilians – Kiev

Sunday, January 28, 2024

1012 GMT — Ukraine has said that three civilians were injured in Russian air strikes in four different regions of the country, which also damaged critical infrastructure.

“Civilian facilities and critical infrastructure were attacked in the Poltava, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement on Telegram.

Russian forces carried out the attacks with eight unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), two Iskander missiles, and three S-300 missiles, the statement claimed.

The Ukrainian Air Force destroyed four out of eight UAVs, the statement said, adding that local administrations will remove the rubble from the damaged buildings caused by the attacks.

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1949 GMT — Russian missile hits Ukraine's Kremenchuk district

A Russian missile has hit an industrial site in the central Ukrainian district of Kremenchuk for a second straight day, the regional governor said, adding the strike had caused no casualties.

"For the second day in a row, the enemy is attacking Poltava region," Poltava Regional Governor Filip Pronin wrote on the Telegram messaging app, noting that the target was in Kremenchuk district.

Pronin later said there had been no casualties.

1254 GMT — Ukraine uncovers attempt to embezzle nearly $40M in arms purchases

Ukrainian authorities unearthed embezzlement of $39.6M in the arms purchase and identified some serving and retired high-ranking officials, including those from the Defence Ministry, as being involved in the fraudulent ammunition procurement deal, according to the country's security service.

One of the suspects was apprehended by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) while attempting to flee the country, said an official statement issued by SBU.

"The SBU, with the assistance of the Ministry of Defense, exposed officials of the Ministry of Defence and managers of Lviv Arsenal, who stole almost 1.5 billion UAH for the purchase of shells," the statement said.

0056 GMT — Russia 'open' to diplomatic solutions to overcome Ukraine crisis

Moscow maintains its willingness to consider genuine proposals for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Ukraine, according to Alexey Polishchuk, head of the Second Department of the CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"On its part, Russia has always remained open to truly substantive proposals on how to overcome the current crisis through political and diplomatic methods," he said.

However, Polishchuk expressed pessimism regarding any potential shift in Western strategy towards the crisis.

In an interview with TASS, the senior diplomat claimed that Western powers, particularly the US, the UK, and the EU, hold significant sway over Ukrainian leadership.

He described the current Ukrainian government as "puppets" manipulated by these external actors.

Polishchuk further accused the West of exploiting the crisis for their own benefit, aiming not only to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia but also to weaken the economies of their European competitors through fearmongering over the "Russian threat."

For our live updates from Saturday, January 27, click here.