Russia Strikes Ukraine Steel Mills And Cargo Ships

Russian forces have targeted cargo ships and steel mills throughout Ukraine. The Defence Ministry claims its troops struck multiple industrial sites as Moscow pushes forward a specific campaign against Kyiv's manufacturing base. On Saturday, officials stated that Ukrainian steelmaker Zaporizhstal took a hit in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Moscow also said it damaged an Interpipe Steel complex in Dnipro and several plants in Kryvyi Rih. That southern location serves as the hometown for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Overnight, two cargo vessels were struck near Chornomorsk on the Black Sea, according to Interfax news agency reports.

These strikes followed drone launches from Ukraine aimed at facilities in Russia's Samara region. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, the regional governor there, told Interfax about the Ukrainian assault. In response, Russian forces downed 230 drones over more than a dozen areas of their territory, plus Crimea and parts of the Azov and Black seas.

Ilya Sukhikh, mayor of Togliatti in Samara, reported damage to several apartment blocks and one injury among residents. Elsewhere, four commercial buildings burned down in Taganrog within the Rostov region, Svetlana Kambulova said via TASS news agency. Since February 2022, Russia has systematically hit Ukraine's power grid, defense factories, and logistics centers to disrupt arms production, starve civilians of electricity and heat, and break supply lines.

Ukraine is fighting back with its own long-range campaign against Russian industry. Dozens of oil refineries have faced drone strikes, threatening war revenue and causing fuel shortages at home.

Deadly attacks continue in Kyiv. On Friday, two people died when petrol stations were struck by Russian missiles. Fuel stations also took hits on Thursday, pointing to a new focus on civilian neighborhoods in the capital. Elsewhere, three people perished in southeastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions plus Kharkiv in the northeast, governors confirmed.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 12 others were injured in Kyiv, including a boy who was twelve years old. One person also died in the region surrounding the capital, the governor noted. Meanwhile, Ukraine's drones reached Russia with lethal results. Local officials in Kursk reported one death from a Ukrainian strike. In Belgorod, another frequent target, officials said one person died. Two gas company employees in Russian-controlled eastern Donetsk were killed by a drone attack.

A missile struck two apartment buildings and hurt an industrial site in Volgograd south of Saratov on the Volga River, local authorities stated without naming the facility. Two people suffered injuries there.