Russia kills a 3-year-old boy and his grandparents in another attack on civilians in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin's dictatorship has been launching systematic attacks against the civilian population of Ukraine for four and a half years.

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In the last few hours, Russia launched a new wave of attacks as part of its ongoing strategy of terrorism against the Ukrainian population. This morning at 9:15 AM CET, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced: "Last night, Russia killed three people in Pukhivka, Kyiv region, with drone strikes – a grandfather, a grandmother, and their grandson. The boy was only three years old. Four more people were hospitalized: the child’s parents, his 15-year-old brother, and a neighbor who came to the family’s aid and was wounded in a double-tap strike. The victims suffered thermal burns and shrapnel wounds. My condolences… It was an ordinary residential building. The Russians could not have been unaware of this."

Zelenskyy added: "There was also a strike involving six ballistic missiles against civilian infrastructure in Kyiv. As of now, one person has been reported dead. My condolences to the family and loved ones. The Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Poltava regions also came under attack."

This morning at 8:44 CET, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated: "A passenger train was attacked in the Sumy region. Chernihiv, Dnipro, and other regions were under attack as well. This terror cannot be normalized, it must be stopped through decisive collective action. We urge partners to take concrete steps to strengthen Ukraine’s sky shield and increase the cost of prolonging this war for Moscow."

The President of Ukraine outlined what his country needs to confront this Russian terrorism against the civilian population: "More pressure is needed. New sanctions that will prevent the production of these ballistic missiles. And we definitely need more protection for our people. Anti-ballistic capabilities, interceptor missiles for Patriot, SAMP/T, NASAMS, Hawk, and our F-16s – all of this works and helps protect lives when it is here, in Ukraine, rather than sitting in warehouses thousands of kilometers away from Russian strikes against life. I thank everyone who shows leadership and, despite everything, provides new air defense packages."

This morning the Ukrainian Air Force reported that from 6:00 PM on August 7th and throughout the night of August 8th, Russia attacked with six Iskander-M ballistic missiles and S-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles from the Bryansk region, as well as with 151 attack drones. According to preliminary data published by the Ukrainian Air Force, as of 9:00 AM this morning Kyiv time (8:00 AM CET), Ukrainian air defenses shot down or neutralized 135 enemy drones of the Shahed, Gerbera, and Italmas types, as well as drones of other types, in the north, south, and east of the country.

Moscow is developing a strategy of systematic attacks against civilians in Ukraine to compensate for its failures on the battlefield, where the front lines are virtually stagnant and Russian advances are minimal and at an ever-increasing cost in both soldiers and equipment. Vladimir Putin's dictatorship has opted for a war of attrition in the style of the First World War, a strategy that demonstrates the failure of its February 2022 plans to quickly invade Ukraine and seize control of the entire country.

Furthermore, Russia is proving increasingly vulnerable to Ukrainian counterattacks, which are seriously damaging Russian oil production and creating supply problems at gas stations in the invading country. In July, Ukraine launched more than 6,000 attack drones against the Moscow region alone.

Putin has gotten himself into a war he knows he cannot win, a war that has also resulted in Russian territory once again being the scene of air raids for the first time since World War II. If this invasion continues now, it is due to the stubbornness of the Russian dictator, who has no qualms about continuing to send young Russians to die on the front lines as cannon fodder.

This invasion is also causing a political regression in Russia, which is politically returning to the era of the Soviet dictatorship, openly longed for by Vladimir Putin in many of his public statements. The Russian dictator is using this war to concentrate ever more power and turn Russia into a replica of North Korea, a country where the slightest criticism of the regime is punished in the most brutal ways.

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Photos: ДСНС України.