Russia announced on Monday strikes on Ukraine national defense industry, while Ukraine reported strikes on Russian troops and oil refinery facilities.
According to a report from the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, the Russian forces attacked Ukrainian national defense industry facilities and traffic infrastructure with long-range high-precision weapons and drones in the past 24 hours.
Over the same period, Russian air defense systems destroyed 274 drones and four guided aerial bombs of Ukraine.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on the same day that 206 engagements took place along the frontline over the past day, with Ukrainian air forces, missile forces and artilleries carrying out attacks on Russian troops.
Ukrainian forces also struck an oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai early Monday morning.
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a scheduled flight of the Russian Aerospace Forces Tu-22M3 long-range bombers over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.
The flight lasted for over four hours and was escorted by Su-35 fighters.
Russian long-range aviation crews regularly conduct flights over neutral waters of the Arctic, the Northern Atlantic, and the Pacific oceans, as well as Black and Baltic seas. All flights of the Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft are carried out in strict compliance with international rules on the use of airspace over international waters, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russia, Ukraine update battle reports
Students across Iran are preparing to return to their classrooms for a new school year. But in the southern city of Minab, where more than 160 pupils and teachers were killed by a U.S. missile strike on February 28, the pain and trauma of loss remain.
Standing at the site of the destroyed Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, Yasin, a student who survived the strike, recounted what he saw on the day the missile struck.
"When the sound of the explosion came, we came out of that section and through that door. As we went out, we saw everyone was covered in blood. One held his eye in his hand, another's neck was broken and blood was coming out. I saw one person who was hit by shrapnel here. Everyone was crying and running," said Yasin.
Yasin survived the attack but some of his closest friends did not.
"Amir Mohammad Bagheri was my close friend. He became a martyr. That day, he was standing right here, and I said to him, 'Come on, let's go and take the food container.' He said, 'Yeah,' so we went. But he went out through the hall. I went to pick up my food and came back. When I woke up in the morning, I read the news and saw that he had been martyred," said Yasin.
Months later, Yasin's mother said the attack had left Yasin under intense psychological pressure, and without the excitement he once had for school.
"He has absolutely no enthusiasm or passion for the new school year. He doesn’t say at all 'buy me shoes, buy me a bag for school.' I told him 'come and study,' and he said 'Forget it. I know it. My teacher taught me.' His teacher, of course, was martyred. He has become terribly nervous and aggressive. Whatever he has in his hand, he smashes it against his head. The children who survived the attack are very psychologically devastated, not just Yasin, all of them," said Yasin's mother.
For the new school year, many survivors including Yasin will be transferred to a temporary building to continue their education.
Minab city officials are now building a new school near the old one. Perhaps it will be bigger and better than the one that once stood there. But the pain of what happened there will never leave those who survived the deadly airstrike.
"We miss our friends. New friends will come to our school. We all study together. We learn knowledge. We continue on the path of our friends. I am not the only survivor; there are many others. Our friends are studying in heaven, while we are studying here on Earth," said Yasin.
Students in Iran's Minab endure pain, trauma of war as new school year begins
