KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was subjected Sunday to numerous shelling attacks from Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region, across the Dnieper River, local officials said.
The head of the Kherson city administration, Roman Mrochko, said two people died in the shelling attacks and several others were wounded.
Meanwhile, Russian military personnel marked Orthodox Christmas on Sunday.
In Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, a man was killed and two other civilians wounded in Russian shelling of the Kupiansk district Sunday, according to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. A child was among the wounded.
Air defenses shot down 21 of 28 drones launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said Sunday. Russia also launched three anti-aircraft missiles against Ukraine.
On an unannounced visit to the country this weekend, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa pledged Japan’s continued support for Ukraine. Speaking at a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Sunday, she said Japan had decided to contribute $37 million to the NATO trust fund to provide drone detection systems, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
In Russia, more than 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod have evacuated to an area farther away from Ukraine, local officials said.
“On behalf of the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, we met the…
