State Emergency Service: Russian attacks on Kherson Oblast ignite fires.
Russian attacks on civilian targets in Kherson Oblast on the night of June 19 caused extensive fires in the region, the State Emergency Service reported[1]. Presidential Office head Andrii Yermak said[2] that 10 buses caught on fire and one of the State Emergency Service's excavators was damaged. "While Ukraine works to ensure safety after the destruction of the Kakhovka Plant, the terrorists continue to shell the city every day," the Emergency Service Head Serhii Kruk said.
Firemen were simultaneously deployed to several areas. Fires started in a gas station and an enterprise building. Storage areas, exhibition halls, and utility facilities caught on fire, the Emergency Service wrote on Telegram.
Russia has continuously shelled Kherson and other settlements on the Dnipro River's west bank since Ukrainian forces liberated them in November 2022. Russia's destruction of the Kakhovka dam, flooding residential areas on both river banks, did not result in the shelling falling in intensity in any way.
Fires caused by a Russian bombing of Kherson Oblast on June 19, 2023. (Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Telegram)
Fires caused by a Russian bombing of Kherson Oblast on June 19, 2023. (Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Telegram)
Fires caused by a Russian bombing of Kherson Oblast on June 19, 2023. (Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Telegram)
Fires caused by a Russian bombing of Kherson Oblast on June 19, 2023. (Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Telegram) 
Martin Fornusek
News Editor
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press.
He also volunteers as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukrainer.
Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.