KYIV: Ukraine said Russian shelling on Sunday targeted the southern city of Kherson, which has been faced repeated attacks since Kyiv’s forces recaptured it last month.

“Another blow was delivered to the city centre. Three people were injured. They received shrapnel wounds, one wounded is in a serious condition,” deputy head of the president’s office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on social media.

Regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevich said that Moscow’s troops had carried out 54 attacks on Kherson region with artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, tanks and mortars over the previous day, leaving three dead and wounding six others.

Kherson has been subjected to persistent Russian shelling since Moscow’s forces retreated in November, and power was cut in the city earlier this week.

Russia claimed to have annexed Kherson region along with three more in September, vowing to defend them with all available military means.

The shelling comes after Russia on Friday launched a barrage of missiles on multiple cities in Ukraine, further straining the country’s battered energy grid.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday issued a video address to football fans ahead of the World Cup final between Argentina and France calling for peace to “become the champion”.

“This World Cup proved time and again that different countries and nationalities can decide who is the strongest in fair play, but not in playing with fire,” Zelensky said in the video.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2022