POLTAVA, Ukraine (AP) — Funerals were held Saturday for the victims of one of the deadliest Russian airstrikes since the start of the war in Ukraine, as Ukraine’s president pledged to boost domestic military production by creating underground weapons factories.
Funerals were held in the eastern Ukrainian city of Poltava for the victims of a Russian missile attack on a military training center that left more than 50 dead and over 300 injured.
Hundreds of mourners, including bereaved families, local residents and officials, gathered at the Assumption Cathedral in the city, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southeast of Kiev, for the solemn ceremony. Crying relatives, many holding red carnations, stood in front of coffins placed outside the church, draped in yellow and blue Ukrainian flags. An air raid siren sounded during the ceremony.
Local residents knelt in silence as hearses carrying the victims passed on their way to a military cemetery outside the town for burial.
Russia has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure across the country and carrying out deadly strikes in residential areas.
The attacks have highlighted Moscow’s long-term capabilities as Ukraine braces for what is likely to be another difficult winter, with Russia continuing to destroy Ukraine’s power grid, knocking out about 70% of generating capacity and disrupting heat and water supplies.
Explosions rang out over the Ukrainian capital overnight as several Russian attack drones were intercepted by the city’s air defenses. No injuries or serious damage were reported.
The Ukrainian Air Force said 67 drones were launched over the country overnight, with air defenses active in 11 regions. Fifty-eight drones were shot down and three others destroyed by electronic weapons systems, it said.
Debris from a drone was photographed on the street in front of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The press service of the Ukrainian parliament confirmed that fragments of the drone had been found, but said there were no casualties or damage to the parliament.
Separately, a Russian artillery attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka on Saturday killed three people and wounded three others, Donetsk region governor Vadym Filashkin said. He said the attack damaged a high-rise building and local power lines.
On Friday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the death toll from the September 3 strike on the Poltava Military Institute of Communications had risen to 55, and 328 people had been injured.
“This includes people with serious injuries, such as amputations and internal organ damage,” Zelenskyy said, speaking at a conference outside the Italian city of Milan.
“Our people are under constant threat from Russian missile and drone strikes, every night and every day.”
Zelensky renewed his call for lifting restrictions on the use of Western-supplied weapons to strike Russian territory, adding that Ukraine was increasing its own weapons production.
“We are setting up underground weapons production facilities so that Ukrainian soldiers can defend themselves, even if supplies from our partners are delayed,” he said.
“We have developed new drones and new missiles, and we are gradually bringing this war back to Russia. Ultimately, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will feel compelled to seek only one thing: peace.”
kyiv has continued to launch its own strikes against Russia. On Saturday, in the Russian border region of Voronezh, Governor Alexander Gusev said a drone strike had triggered a fire and the detonation of “explosive objects.”
On social media, he said that a state of emergency had been declared in the Ostrogozhsky district and several villages had been evacuated.
He did not provide the names of the affected villages and urged his followers not to share photos or videos of the fire that could be geotagged. ___
Davies reported from Manchester, England. Evgeniy Maloletka and Alex Babenko from Poltava, Ukraine, and Derek Gatopoulos from kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
