(Moscow) At least 26 people were killed and dozens injured Friday in several Ukrainian strikes on Russian-controlled areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, occupation authorities said.

A double strike notably targeted the village of Sadové, in the southern region of Kherson, partially occupied by Russia.

According to Vladimir Saldo, head of the Russian occupation of the region, an aerial bomb destroyed a store “with a significant number of visitors and employees” in this village, before a HIMARS missile struck the area, killing 22 people and injuring 15 others.

“After the first shot, residents of nearby houses ran out to help the victims, but shortly after, a HIMARS missile arrived,” Saldo was quoted as saying by Russian media.

He denounced a “vile murder of civilians” made possible by Western arms deliveries to Kyiv, and a double strike intended to “cause the most victims”.

According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, this Ukrainian strike notably caused the collapse of a multi-story apartment building.

“The total number of people injured in today’s missile strike on Luhansk is 57. Four of them died,” local Health Minister Natalia Pashchenko said on social media .

According to the pro-Russian head of the Luhansk region, Leonid Passetchnik, two secondary schools, three nursery schools and a college were also damaged.

The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, claimed that “five American-made ATACMS missiles” had “deliberately targeted residential areas in the city of Luhansk”.

Russia also claimed Friday, in another press release from its Defense Ministry, the capture of the village of Paraskoviïvka, in the Donetsk region, also in eastern Ukraine.

Paraskoviïvka is located about 30 kilometers southwest of Donetsk, the major Russian-held city in the eponymous region.

Russian troops have been gaining ground for months in the Donbass against a Ukrainian army lacking men and ammunition, and also launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region (north-east) on May 10, seizing several localities.

On the Ukrainian side, a 71-year-old woman was killed in a Russian strike in Nikopol, in the Dnipropetrovsk region (center-east), according to Governor Serguiï Lyssak.  

French technology group Thales announced on Friday that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry had purchased a second complete air defense system to “contribute to the protection of its territory” against the Russian army.

“After the supply of a first air defense system to Ukraine in 2023, whose performance on the battlefield is recognized, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is acquiring a second system” as part of a contract signed “under the aegis of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces,” Thales said in a press release.

Its amount was not specified.

“This second air defense system will strengthen the protection of Ukrainian territory, making it possible to detect existing threats as early as possible. Thales is proud to put its expertise to work to protect Ukraine,” said Hervé Dammann, Deputy Director General, Land and Air Systems, quoted in the press release.

“This air defense system includes a ControlMaster 200 (CM 200) including a Ground Master 200 air surveillance radar, a radio communications system, a ControlView command and control (C2) center, as well as a portable weapons allocation terminal,” said the French manufacturer.

“The ControlMaster 200 simultaneously detects and tracks low- and high-altitude targets in all types of environments,” providing “coordination of air defense weapons, from Very Short Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) to long-range air defense. extended short range (E-SHORAD),” Thales said.

The Ground Master 200 radar is a medium-range radar, transportable on a truck, which can detect an enemy aircraft at 250 km and combat it at 100 km, whether it flies at low speed and low altitude like drones, or at high altitude like fighter planes. It also provides protection against rockets and artillery fire by alerting ground troops of enemy fire, according to its manufacturer.