Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday it shot down a military target off the coast of Kyiv with cruise missiles overnight and promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.
The ministry said its forces also took full control of the Ilyich steel plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian soldier for weeks.
Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv on Friday, which appears to be one of the most significant there as Russian troops pulled back from the region earlier this month to prepare for fighting in the south and east.
The explosions were heard after the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Moskva, had sunk while towed after being badly damaged.
Ukraine claimed that Moscow’s damage was the result of one of its missile attacks. Russia’s Defense Ministry spoke only of the fire and the explosion of ammunition.
The defense ministry said in a statement that overnight missile strikes on Kiev struck a ‘Vizar’ factory on the edge of the Ukrainian capital, which it said made and repaired missiles, including anti-ship missiles. Of.
It promised more attacks on Kyiv.
“The number and scale of missile attacks on targets in Kiev will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory perpetrated by the Kyiv nationalist regime,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter it said had struck the village of Klimovo in the Bryansk region on April 14 and also shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi-27 jet.
A group of 30 Polish mercenaries were also destroyed, it said.
Russia began its “special military operation” on 24 February. Ukraine has put up fierce resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.