Russian missile attack on President Zelensky’s home town kills one and injures 44 others, with civilians pulled out from the rubble of their homes

A Russian missile strike on President Zelensky’s hometown has killed a police officer and injured 44 others. Civilians have been pulled from the rubble of their destroyed homes.

Ten buildings were damaged in the attack on Kryvy Rih after a spate of Russian attacks in the center and east of the country.

Three of the people pulled from the rubble were in serious condition. Photos show smoke spewing from the ruins of the building as rescuers carried an injured person to an ambulance.

One image of the aftermath shows rescuers pulling on the concrete foundations of a building to reveal a police officer, whose face is bloodied from the blast. Other photos show wrecked cars covered in rubble and firefighters sweeping through the wreckage.

Three administrative buildings were damaged in the attack and seven residential buildings, including a high-rise, sustained damage, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said.

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, September 8, 2023

The police administrative building was destroyed and rescuers pulled several people out of the rubble after the attack, Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister, told Telegram.

A Russian airstrike killed three civilians and injured four others in the village of Oradokamianka in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson today.

Three people were also injured in a Russian missile attack in the eastern city of Sumy.

Ukraine’s interior ministry said one person was injured in a Russian missile strike on the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhia.

Russia this week also carried out its fifth drone strike on the southern Odesa region, home to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea and the Danube used to export grain and other agricultural products.

Rescuers and police officers carry a person freed from rubble at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, September 8, 2023

In this Ukrainian Emergency Service photo, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire after a Russian attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, September 8, 2023

A view shows a site of a local police headquarters heavily damaged by a Russian missile attack, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, September 8, 2023

A local man tries to extinguish burning buildings at a site of a Russian missile attack, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, September 8, 2023

Russia has intensified airstrikes against Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure on the Danube and in the port of Odesa since mid-July, when Moscow pulled out of the UN-brokered deal that allowed safe Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea.

Officials said air defense shot down 16 of 20 drones fired by Russia in one night. The southern military command said fourteen drones were downed over the Odesa region and two more over the southern Mykolaiv region.

Oleh Kiper, the regional governor of Odesa, said a non-residential building was damaged by drone debris, but gave no further details. He reported no casualties in the Odesa region.

Also on Friday, a funeral was held for an 18-year-old who was among 16 people killed on Wednesday in a Russian attack on a market in Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

The attack, which injured 33 others, destroyed the market and overshadowed a two-day visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at assessing Ukraine’s three-month-old counteroffensive and signaling continued US support with the announcement of another billion euros. dollars (£801 million) in aid.

Britain today announced it will host a global food security summit in November in response to Russia’s withdrawal of the Black Sea grain deal and attacks on Ukraine’s grain supplies.

Burning buildings are seen at the site of a Russian missile attack, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, September 8, 2023

A view shows destroyed cars on a site of a local police headquarters heavily damaged by a Russian missile attack, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, September 8, 2023

The announcement came as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in India for a Group of 20 summit, where he hopes to marshal international resources to counter the war’s impact on global food supplies.

Sunak’s government said Royal Air Force planes will fly over the Black Sea as part of efforts to deter Russia from attacking cargo ships carrying grain from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia is holding local elections in the part of the Kherson region it controls.

Local elections are also held in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia.

In Kherson, local residents and Ukrainian activists say election workers have made home visits accompanied by armed soldiers.

Ukraine has rejected the elections and called on its allies to condemn Russia’s actions and urge them not to recognize any government that emerged as a result of the elections.