Russia Launches Deadly Strikes Across Ukraine as Poland Escalates Historical Dispute

Nine Ukrainian civilians, including a 13-year-old girl, have been killed since overnight Tuesday into Wednesday and through Wednesday afternoon in a series of Russian attacks on several cities across Ukraine.

According to Ukraine's Interior and Security Ministries, three people were killed and seven others wounded in Russian airstrikes on the city of Sumy. The regional governor said the attack involved six guided aerial bombs.

In the Kharkiv region, two people were killed and 16 injured in Russian strikes. Another three people were killed and 25 wounded in a missile attack on Odessa. One additional civilian was killed and seven others injured in a Russian bombardment of Ukraine's Donetsk region yesterday.

The latest Russian attacks came a day after the Ukrainian Navy reportedly destroyed the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) border patrol vessel Izumrud. Ukrainian forces said they sank the ship using a Sargan-3000 unmanned surface vessel near Novorossiysk, in southern Russia close to Crimea. Russian sources reported that several servicemen were killed in the attack.

Ukraine also announced that its military struck the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat complex — one of Russia's largest oil refining and petrochemical facilities, located in the city of Salavat in the Republic of Bashkortostan. The facility reportedly sustained damage.

Poland to Build Memorial for Victims Killed by Ukrainian Nationalists

Tensions between Poland and Ukraine have intensified after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced plans to erect a memorial honoring "the victims of the Polish genocide murdered by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II."

Tusk referred to the victims of the Volhynia massacres, which took place in what was then Polish territory and is now part of Ukraine. According to Poland, approximately 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalist forces between 1943 and 1945.

The Polish prime minister stated, "Many people in Ukraine regard those nationalists as heroes who fought both the Nazis and the Poles. The answer to the erasure of painful history cannot be more nationalism. Ukraine must embrace the truth and confront it, especially if it wishes to join NATO."

Last month, Poland revoked a state honor previously awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after he named one of Ukraine's military units "UPA," commemorating the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which Poland holds responsible for the massacre of Polish civilians during World War II.

The current dispute comes despite years of strong Polish support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.