Kyiv: Russian attacks killed 10 people across Ukraine, officials said on Saturday, as the aerial war between Moscow and Kyiv intensified.
Russia has struck Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs and jet-powered drones, while progress along the front line has slowed, some 4½ years after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
“It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day. If the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday.
He listed “numerous strikes on residential homes” in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, as well as the Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
Two women in Zaporizhzhia died after being trapped beneath the rubble of their home, the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said. A separate Russian attack on the city of Sumy also killed 2 people, local officials said.
Drones target Russian refineries
Separately, Ukraine continued to target Russian oil refineries and industrial sites with long-range drones. A Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region killed 3 people and wounded 2, local officials said on Saturday.
Regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said in a post on Telegram that the attack sparked fires at 2 industrial sites but provided no further details. Russian media later reported that an oil refinery had been targeted.
Ukrainian attacks also killed 3 people overnight in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed regional head Yevgeny Balitsky said on Saturday, according to Russian state media.
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy appealed at the United Nations for countries to deprive Russia of revenue through sanctions and trade restrictions, denying Moscow the money it needs to prolong the war. Despite years of diplomatic efforts, however, there has been no breakthrough towards ending the conflict.
Russian attacks spark fires in Kyiv
Elsewhere in Ukraine, 2 people were injured overnight in the Kyiv region after a Russian drone strike sparked a fire at a warehouse in the Boryspil district. Russian drones also struck several districts of the capital, injuring 4 people and damaging residential and office buildings, officials said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that the attack on Kyiv damaged a data centre supporting mobile internet services and Starlink satellite communications.
(With agency inputs from AP via PTI)
