Belarus Weekly: Russian, Belarusian security services plan violent attacks on Belarusian diaspora
Polish security agency to investigate disappearance of Belarus's opposition activist amid fears of foreign involvement.
Russian, Belarusian security services plan violent attacks on Belarusian diaspora, Lithuanian Security Department says.
Russian FSB detains Belarus citizen allegedly preparing to carry out "terrorist act" on behalf of Ukraine's SBU.
Lithuania to fortify second Suwalki Gap route, viewed as one of the most likely targets for a future Russian attack on NATO, Politico reports.
Viasna Human Rights Center volunteer released after serving full term.
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Belarus Weekly
Join us
The case of missing Belarusian opposition activist Anzhalika Melnikava has been handed over to Poland's Internal Security Agency, the ABW, to check for the potential involvement of foreign intelligence services, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on April 16.
Exiled Belarusian political activist and speaker of the Belarusian opposition's Coordination Council Melnikava went missing on March 25. Four weeks later, her whereabouts remain unknown, although signals from her phone were reportedly traced to Belarus, raising alarm among members of the exiled Belarusian opposition, who fear being targeted by the Belarusian regime's agents.
According to Rzeczpospolita, the disappearance case, initially opened by police in the Polish capital Warsaw, has been transferred to the National Prosecutor's Office's Lublin Department of Organized Crime and Corruption, which specializes in investigating the most serious crimes — including espionage. The move suggests that there might be evidence of extraordinary circumstances, like kidnapping or murder, that needs to be investigated by a higher authority, Michal Potocki, the editor of Poland's largest legal journal, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, told U.S. broadcaster RFE/RL.
Previous police enquiries failed to clarify the circumstances of Melnikava's disappearance, with several versions of events being discussed, ranging from kidnapping by a foreign intelligence agency, or that Melnikava was acting on behalf of such services, or the misappropriation of the opposition's funds.
The National Prosecutor's Office representative, Katarzyna Calów-Jaszewska, told the press that the ABW was investigating the case under charges of deprivation of liberty and other undisclosed articles of the Criminal Code.
A former Coca-Cola executive, Anzhalika Melnikava joined anti-Lukashenko protests in Belarus in 2020 and left the country fearing prosecution. In May 2024, she was elected speaker of the Coordination Council, heading the new incarnation of the exiled opposition structure, branded as the 'proto-parliament.' Melnikava handled funds for the Coordination Council and Cyberpartizans, a hacker group behind the attacks on the regime's digital infrastructure.
According to Poland's Internal Affairs Ministry, Melnikava had not been in Poland for several weeks at the time of her reported disappearance, and one of her devices was traced to Belarus on March 19. Conflicting evidence says that she had traveled to the United Kingdom while her two daughters were in Belarus with their father. The family is not planning to report her disappearance, journalists have learned.
Notably, Belarusian propaganda has not mentioned the case, unlike that of the former volunteer fighter in Ukraine, Vasyl Verameichyk, whose extradition from Vietnam to Belarus was covered by Belarusian state-run television.
Melnikava's case appeared in the background of Belarus's law enforcers' constant attempts to silence exiled opposition figures. All 257 contenders for the Coordination Council seats had criminal investigations opened against them.
Polish prosecutors are also now investigating an alleged plot to murder Pavel Latushka, another prominent opposition leader. Moreover, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko's agents are also suspected of being behind the murders of Belarusian opposition activist Vital Shyshou in 2021, and journalist Pavel Sharamet in 2016 in Kyiv.
Lithuania's Department of State Security or VSD said on April 23 that it had uncovered a plot by Russian and Belarusian intelligence services to commit violent attacks against Belarusians living in the country.
Lithuania, which neighbors Belarus, hosts 50,000 Belarusian exiles and the office of Belarusian opposition leader Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to flee her homeland after reportedly beating Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential elections. Lithuania has sided with Belarusians protesting Lukashenko's contested 're-election' and has faced a backlash from his regime in the forms of an artificial migration crisis, a crackdown on the Lithuanian diaspora in Belarus, and Lukashenko's frequent verbal attacks on the country.
The Russian and Belarusian intelligence services have stepped up their operations in Lithuania, with the first attempts to commit violent attacks on representatives of the Belarusian community being recorded, according to the VSD.
The VSD found foreign agents trying to lure Belarusian students in Vilnius with an easy one-time gig to a remote location where they were to be ambushed and beaten. The would-be attackers were provided with exact locations, timing and details of the victims' appearance.
'The organizers are trying to create the appearance of a conflict between two warring forces — Belarusians promoting the ideology of Litvinism, and Lithuanian groups allegedly opposing them,' the VSD said.
In 2023, Belarusian intelligence was allegedly behind the so-called 'Litvinism' movement — a fringe historical Belarusian revisionist idea that claims the Lithuanian capital Vilnius does not belong to Lithuania. Graffiti in crooked Cyrillic reading 'Vilnius is ours' started appearing in Vilnius, and Lithuanian politicians received threats from alleged 'Litvinist' groups.
In 2024, the attacks turned to buildings belonging to representatives of the Belarusian diaspora. Vandals set fire to a Belarusian house in Vilnius, shot at a chapel with pneumatic weapons, and left graffiti in poorly-spelled Lithuanian calling for Tsikhanouskaya to leave the country.
The violent attack on Belarusians was to be the next step in this staged 'conflict,' the VSD said.
The size of the Belarusian diaspora in Lithuania has shrunk significantly, dropping from over 62,000 in January 2024 to 53,700 in April 2025, according to Lithuania's Migration Department.
In 2024 alone, nearly 600 residence permits for Belarusians were revoked on national security grounds, often due to their holders having served in the military in the past or even having been employed in non-sensitive roles like bank call centers.
Read also: Front-line situation not severe enough for Ukraine to be forced to accept Trump's deal, experts say
Russia's Federal Security Service or FSB announced on April 18 that it had detained a Belarusian citizen who had been 'preparing a terrorist act in the interests of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU),' according to an official FSB press release.
The FSB claimed the detained foreign citizen was recruited by the SBU in December 2024 to gather information about the locations of Black Sea Fleet ships, Russian army personnel in Krasnodar Krai, and to carry out "terrorist attacks."
In a video released by the FSB, an unidentifiable detainee claims to be a Belarusian citizen. With his face blurred in the footage, he recites the script, stating that his 'SBU curator' instructed him to carry out the attack 'to disrupt negotiations between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine' and escalate the conflict.
Russian agents allegedly found a 2.5-kilogram improvised explosive device that they said was to have been planted in an administrative building in Novorossiysk. The FSB opened a criminal case on the suspect on charges of preparing to commit a terrorist act — charges punishable by 10-20 years in prison.
This is not the first such case reported by Russia. In December 2023, a Belarusian national, Siarhei Yerameyeu, was detained in Omsk and accused of blowing up two trains on the Baikal-Amur Mainline in Buryatia. Yerameyeu is still in Russian custody awaiting trial.
Belarusian and Russian law enforcers are notorious for obtaining false confessions by using various forms of psychological pressure and physical torture.
Lithuania is to upgrade and fortify the second main road leading through the Suwalki gap, the NATO choke point squeezed between the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and its ally Belarus, Politico reported on April 18.
The Suwalki gap is a 100-kilometer-wide stretch of NATO territory connecting Poland and Lithuania, bordered by Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad, which is viewed as a prime target in any potential Russian military attack on the alliance.
'These roads (are) critical to us from a security and defense perspective,' Lithuanian Deputy Defense Minister Tomas Godliauskas told Politico. 'They've always been part of our civil-military planning as key ground routes for allied support during a crisis.'
Currently, all military mobility between Lithuania and Poland is ensured by Via Baltica, the road between Lithuania's former capital Kaunas and Warsaw, and the high-speed railroad Rail Baltica. The project will upgrade 113 kilometers of road and renovate eight bridges from the capital, Vilnius, to the Polish border town of Augustow. It is expected to be completed by 2028.
Lithuania expects to secure European funding for the project, which the Baltic state and Poland have jointly financed.
A 2022 report by Politico labeled the Suwalki gap 'the most dangerous place on Earth.'
After Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine it soon faced sanctions, which in turn prompted Lithuania's national railroad carrier to refuse transit of certain goods from Belarus to Kaliningrad, including coal, metals, and building materials.
At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin's staunch ally, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, said Lithuania's decision to comply with EU sanctions 'resembles a declaration of war.' Over a year later, in November 2023, First Deputy State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council Pavel Muraveiko claimed Belarus has every right to 'pave a corridor' through Lithuania to transit goods.
Security tensions in the region are set to rise: In September 2025, Belarus is holding Zapad (West) military drills involving 13,000 Russian troops. According to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys, the actual scale of Zapad exercises has a history of far exceeding the publicly declared numbers.
Threats against NATO member states neighboring Belarus were heard again when the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, visited Minsk on April 15 and claimed that Poland and the Baltic states were 'highly aggressive' and would be the 'first to suffer' if there were any 'NATO aggression' against the Russia-Belarus Union State.
Andrei Chapiuk, the volunteer of Belarus's oldest human rights watchdog, the Viasna Human Rights Center, was set free on April 18 after serving five years and nine months in prison.
Meanwhile, four other Viasna advocates remain behind bars.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Viasna chairman Ales Bialiatski and three of his colleagues — the center's deputy chairman Valiantsin Stefanovich, lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich, and volunteer coordinator Marfa Rabkova — are serving almost decade-long prison terms after being prosecuted for their human rights advocacy.
Belarus's oldest human rights organization, Viasna has been documenting electoral fraud and human rights abuses by the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko since 1996.
Chapiuk was detained in October 2020 on charges of inciting social enmity, participating in mass discord, and being a member of a criminal organization. Sentenced to five years and nine months in prison over his involvement in human rights activism, the political prisoner was also officially declared to be an extremist and terrorist. Before his release, a handcuffed Chapiuk was taken for interrogation, Viasna reported.
Accused of 'financing protests,' Bialiatski received a nearly 10-year prison term, while two of his colleagues were punished for 7-9 years. Rabkova received an extremely harsh sentence of almost 15 years. All four have health conditions that reduce their chances of surviving imprisonment.
Lukashenko's authorities branded Viasna an extremist organization in 2023, outlawing any communication between activists and the victims of repression within the country. Over 1,200 political prisoners are still held behind bars in Belarus in the aftermath of widespread anti-Lukashenko public protests in 2020.
Read also: 'End policy of appeasement' — European foreign affairs chairs rebuke Trump's Russia stance
We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Russia launches one of war's largest air attacks days after Ukraine's bomber raid
Russia launched a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles across broad swaths of Ukraine early Friday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others, days after Kyiv launched a daring raid on Moscow's fleet of strategic bombers. For residents of Kyiv, the night's soundtrack was familiar: the shrieking whir of drones, air raid sirens and large explosions overhead – whether from air defenses successfully downing missiles, or projectiles puncturing the capital. Three firefighters were killed in Kyiv, two civilians were killed in Lutsk, and another person was killed in Chernihiv, according to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had used more than 400 drones and 40 missiles in the overnight attack, putting it among the war's largest. He said Moscow's attack injured 80 and targeted 'almost all' of Ukraine, listing nine regions, from Lviv in the west to Sumy in the northeast. Although Russia has pummeled Ukraine almost daily over three years of full-scale war, Ukrainians had been bracing for retaliation since Sunday, when Kyiv launched an audacious operation that struck more than a third of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers. In a call with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would have to respond to Kyiv's assault. Speaking aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump told reporters Ukraine 'gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night.' Russia's Ministry of Defense said its strikes were in response to what it called Kyiv's 'terrorist acts.' It was not immediately clear if the attack was the extent of Russia's pledged retaliation, or if Putin intends to escalate further. After the embarrassment of Kyiv's operation, there was a chorus of bellicose calls from pro-Kremlin pundits for a severe – potentially nuclear – response. Although Ukrainians had been buoyed last weekend by the news of Kyiv's successful operation, many were wary of how Russia might strike back. But after Friday's strikes, Kyiv residents told CNN they supported Ukraine's strikes against the aircraft Moscow has used to bomb Ukraine for more than three years. 'It didn't break us at all. The morale is as high as it was. We strongly believe in our armed forces,' said Olha, a 39-year-old from the capital who did not wish to give her last name. She said the apparent 'retaliation' from Russia was not so different to countless other nights of the war. 'Maybe (this was the retaliation), but maybe the retaliation is yet to come. Either way, it doesn't change our attitude towards the enemy or towards our country.' Meanwhile, Ukraine's general staff on Friday said it launched overnight strikes on two Russian airfields, where it said Moscow had concentrated many of the aircraft that had not been damaged in Kyiv's 'Spiderweb' operation last weekend. Ukraine stressed that the operation, which blindsided the Kremlin, had targeted the planes that Russia uses to launch missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and kill civilians. After Russia's large-scale attack Friday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow had 'responded' to its destroyed aircraft by once again 'attacking civilians in Ukraine.' As daylight broke, images from Kyiv showed flames rising over apartment buildings and firefighting crews at work, with residents picking through the debris of damaged apartments. Several cars parked in the streets below were covered with shards of glass and slabs of masonry torn from the walls of residential buildings. Ukraine's air force said Russia's barrage comprised 407 drones, six ballistic missiles, 38 cruise missiles and an anti-radar missile. Of those 452 projectiles, the air force said it had downed 406, including 32 of the cruise missiles and four of the ballistic missiles. The other two ballistic missiles did not reach their targets, it added. The strikes also hit Chernihiv, near the border with Belarus, which was rocked by 14 explosions from drones and ballistic missiles, including cruise missiles and Iskander-M missiles, local officials said. Five others were wounded in strikes in the northwestern city of Lutsk, near the border with Poland. Footage geolocated by CNN showed at least four missiles slamming into the city, kicking up fiery explosions on impact. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it had also intercepted and destroyed 174 Ukrainian drones from Thursday evening to early Friday morning and had destroyed three Ukrainian Neptune-MD guided missiles over the Black Sea. All week, Ukrainians have been bracing for Russia's retaliation to last weekend's drone attack, which struck 34% of Moscow's nuclear-capable bombers stationed at airfields as far away as Siberia. On Tuesday, Ukraine also launched an attack on the Kerch Bridge, the only direct connection point between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, with 1,100 kilograms of explosives that had been planted underwater. After Trump's call with Putin on Wednesday, the US president said his Russian counterpart had told him that Moscow would have to respond to Ukraine's assaults. Trump's account of the call gave no indication that he had urged Putin to temper his response, to the dismay of many in Ukraine. 'When Putin mentioned he is going to avenge or deliver a new strike against Ukraine, we know what it means. It's about civilians,' Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko told CNN earlier this week. 'And President Trump didn't say, 'Vladimir, stop.'' Despite Trump's support for recent peace talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia, on Thursday he signaled that he may be adopting a more hands-off approach, likening the war to a brawl between children. 'Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,' Trump said in the Oval Office, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looked on silently. 'They hate each other, and they're fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don't want to be pulled. Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine's drone strike on Russia spurs global military rethink, raises U.S. preparedness concerns
Ukraine's drone attack on Russia last weekend was a technological and intelligence game changer. It will reshape not only how the United States bolsters its military, but how the entire world does — allies and adversaries alike. While defense specialists examined the feat in the days since the attack and Ukraine celebrated its success, the question remains: How prepared is the U.S. to use and fend off this emerging tech in warfare? Not well enough, former Utah Rep. Chris Stewart told the Deseret News. Stewart spent 14 years as a pilot in the Air Force and served on the permanent Select Committee on Intelligence while he was in the House of Representatives. He argued that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's attack, which took more than a year and a half to plan, was 'brilliantly planned' and 'brilliantly executed.' It was a 'dramatic event' that will reshape military thinking globally, Stewart said. On June 1, more than 100 Ukrainian drones targeted military airfields and warplanes in Russia that held equipment used in the more than three-year war. Zelenskyy shared a thread online celebrating his military's success in the mission, nicknamed 'Spider Web.' The attack was unique because it demonstrated Ukraine's ability to conduct a successful mission without intelligence assistance, it struck deep into Russian territory, destroyed billions of dollars of Russian equipment and came at a very low cost to Ukraine. The attack consisted of 117 unmanned drones, each with a drone operator. Drones were smuggled into Russia and placed in wooden containers that had remote-controlled lids. The drones then 'took off to strike their targets,' which were at four different Russian airfields, Ukraine's Security Service said. Ukraine said 41 Russian aircraft were hit by their drones, dealing Russia a blow of an estimated $7 billion. Zelenskyy touted that one of the targeted locations was directly next to one of the FSB Russian security service offices and Russia had 'suffered significant losses.' Zelenskyy said Ukraine will continue to propose a 'full and unconditional ceasefire' and work toward peace with Russia, but its June 1 attack may have pushed Russia further away from the negotiating table. Stewart argued that the attack, while largely successful in its goal of targeting some of Russia's prized possessions, is also a 'destabilizing event.' 'It was an attack, direct attack on an asset that Vladimir Putin considers his highest priority and I worry a little bit about the implications of that,' he said, later adding, 'I'm not saying Zelenskyy shouldn't have done it, I'm just saying … one of the outcomes for that is it's going to make … the peace negotiations that are taking place much harder.' President Donald Trump — who was apparently not aware of Ukraine's attack ahead of time — spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. According to Trump, Putin said he would respond to the drone attack. It was a 'good conversation,' but not one that would lead to immediate peace, Trump said. Hours later, Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Pryluky, killing at least five people, including a 1-year-old child. On Friday, Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks of the war, bombing six Ukrainian regions. The attack included 407 drones and 33 missiles. It killed four people, Ukraine said. As Ukraine balances protecting its front lines and cities, continuing its counteroffensive against Russia and seeking to strike a peace deal, the escalation raises questions about what the recent attack means for the United States and its adversaries. Stewart noted that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been interesting to watch because, in some ways, they are fighting a World War I-style war through trench warfare, but the use of unmanned drones in the battlefield has escalated fighting to World War III-level combat. The drones used by Ukraine aren't 'sophisticated weapons' by any means, Stewart pointed out. They aren't much different than drones seen flying in the park on weekends. However, if they're deployed strategically, they can cause 'enormous damage,' as seen by Russia. 'Last Friday, could you have imagined what happened in Russia over the weekend? And the truth is is no one did. And that's just one example of, we don't know really how this is going to change and be implemented and we're probably not nearly as prepared as we should be,' Stewart said. He also highlighted how Russia and Ukraine have 'leapfrogged' one another throughout the war. If Russia develops a drone with a new capability, Ukraine will develop a superior one weeks later, and so on. The technology itself is rapidly evolving in the war, Stewart said. 'Going back three years, if you had talked about how will drones affect the war in Ukraine, everyone would have shrugged their shoulders and said, 'Well, I'm not sure,' or they would have said, 'Well, probably not a lot,'' he said. 'And the answer to that question is, it impacted it greatly.' During a briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Ukraine's drone attack 'absolutely does' raise questions about the United States' security. She pointed to Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' and the expansion of defense funding to bolster the U.S. military as it examines how to respond to the emergence of drone usage. 'The president has a full understanding, I can tell you because I've spoken to him about it, about the future of warfare and how drones are a big part of that, and I will not get ahead of our policy team, but I think you can expect to see some executive action on that front in the very near future,' she said. Evelyn Farkas, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, said she believes the United States doesn't have the capability to protect against swarms of drones, should an adversary launch an attack. It's something the Department of Defense would need to look at, both domestically and at its overseas bases, she said. But bolstering U.S. military operations would need to start with production. Most drones are being produced overseas, including by U.S. adversaries like China. 'Now that they've used them to strategic effect, it will be even more urgent for the United States to improve its drone capability and to invest in drones,' Farkas, who is the executive director of the McCain Institute, said. The attack over the weekend proved that while drone warfare is not entirely a new operational tactic, the strategy behind using them changed the game. Stewart argued the attack also proved there are two major issues facing the U.S. as it stands on the sidelines of the current war: drone defense and implementation plans need to be drafted, and the supply chain needs to be less dependent on China. China, Stewart noted, has also been successful in purchasing land near U.S. military installations globally. Commanders have likely spent the last several days reviewing how to protect assets after seeing Ukraine launch drones into Russian bases at a very close range, he said. 'They weren't really particularly worried about the aircraft sitting out on their tarmac, and it turned out they should have been, right?' he said of the Russian military, later adding, 'I think people are looking at that differently now than they were.' The U.S. military has said it must invest in drones, commonly called unmanned aircraft systems or UAS. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said in a post online that modernization is critical to U.S. national security. 'Investing in UAS isn't optional — it's essential for battlefield dominance, enhancing precision and protecting Soldiers,' he said. Air Force Gen. David Allvin highlighted the need for technological advancement and investment, pointing to Ukraine's attack. 'In today's environment not every asset must be exquisite/expensive. Look what Ukraine just did,' he said in a post online. 'We can't afford to walk by assets like this that generate lethal effects.' Hoover Institution fellow Jacquelyn Schneider has long argued that the U.S. needs to invest in low-cost technology to advance its military. In a 2023 op-ed, she expanded on her research and argued that the U.S. military has ended up in a paradox. It chased emerging technology that made weapons so expensive that upgrading them would be difficult. It left the Pentagon with a stockpile that was 'neither good enough nor large enough' for its plans, Schneider argued. 'The United States also underprioritized technology that would rein in the cost of logistics, maintenance, and replenishment, opting instead for high-tech weaponry patched together with fragile and outdated software,' she wrote. Schneider said the U.S. needs to 'urgently' prioritize technology that would cut warfare costs and admit it cannot replace all of its systems. High-cost technology should be complemented with cheaper options, she said. 'If the United States hopes to persevere against Russia in the short term and China in the long term, it must consider the economic impact of technology even as it pursues technological advantage,' Schneider wrote. Farkas agreed. The United States has an undeniable issue by having 'very expensive systems that are now vulnerable to foreign drones,' she said. War is a 'great accelerator,' Stewart said of technological advancements. It just depends on if the U.S. military will use it properly, he argued. 'The problem on the defense spending side is, we're just not spending the money we should. The bigger problem is, are we spending it right?' he questioned. 'It doesn't do us much good to buy $50 million Predator drones when we know now that a $500 plastic drone can do nearly the same thing.' Stewart said one of his largest concerns after Ukraine's attack is how the U.S. will respond. It's a pressing issue for the industry and the Pentagon as it grapples with rapidly evolving technology and the price tag of modern warfare. 'Will we spend it in the right way and are we keeping up with technology?' he asked, saying he hopes the administration is prompted to ask those questions after Ukraine's attack.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Russian attack on Kharkiv kills 1, injures 13, including 2 children
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated. Russian forces attacked Kharkiv with drones, missiles, and KAB guided bombs overnight on June 7, killing at least one person and injuring 13, officials said. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov that drones had struck civilian targets across the city, including a residential building and a local enterprise. Emergency crews are currently on-scene, searching for additional victims stuck underneath the rubble. Two children were injured in the attack, including a 1-month-old baby, Syniehubov said. At least 40 explosions were recorded across the city amid the attack, local media reported. Mayor Ihor Terekhov that the Osnovyanskyi and Kyiv districts of the city suffered strikes. According to Terekhov, 48 Shahed drones, two missiles, and four guided aerial bombs were launched toward the city. The full extent of the damage was not immediately clear, and no information was provided on the status of the injured victims. Located along the front line, Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine's northeast is a regular target of Russian missile, drone, and glide bomb attacks from across the border. Overnight on June 5, Russian missile and drone on Kharkiv injured 17 people, including four children. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia hits Ukraine with large-scale attack days after Operation Spiderweb; Ukraine targets Russian air bases in 'preemptive strike' We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
