As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with US lawmakers and President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Russia has continued strikes in the southern Kherson and eastern Kharkiv regions of Ukraine. A suspected cyberattack on Ukraine’s largest mobile operator also disrupted communications and internet access for millions of users, according to officials.
In Kherson: One person died and four were injured in heavy Russian attacks on the Kherson region, according to the head of the regional military administration Tuesday.
Over the last 24 hours, Russia attacked the region 125 times by launching nearly 600 shells from mortars, Grad rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, drones and aircraft, according to a Telegram post from Oleksandr Prokudin. The city of Kherson was shelled 43 times, Prokudin said.
Residential buildings were hit, including a dormitory and an administrative building in Kherson, he said.
In the early hours of Tuesday, 15 Shahed drones were launched from Crimea, with nine being destroyed by Ukrainian Defense Forces, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
In Kharkiv: One person was killed and one injured following Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region, according to Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the regional military administration.
A 73-year-old civilian man died as a result of “hostile artillery shelling” in Kupiansk, Syniehubov said. Another 79-year-old local resident was hospitalized due to “shrapnel wounds,” Syniehubov said.
Suspected hack: Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) on Tuesday launched a criminal investigation into the suspected cyberattack on the country’s largest mobile operator and is probing Russian involvement.
“The Security Service of Ukraine has opened a criminal investigation into a cyberattack on one of the national mobile operators Kyivstar,” the SBU said in a statement. “One of the versions currently being investigated by SBU investigators is that Russian special services may be behind the hacker attack,” it added.
The suspected hack disrupted communications and internet access for millions of users, according to mobile operator Kyivstar.
The “powerful hacker attack” caused “a technical failure, which temporarily made our services unavailable: mobile communication and Internet access,” Kyivstar said.
It also affected air raid warning systems in the northern Sumy region as well as banking services, according to authorities.
Kyivstar had 24.8 million customers at the end of 2022, according to Ukrainian state information agency Ukrinform.