Russian strikes killed two people and wounded dozens across Ukraine overnight Saturday and Sunday, while a Ukrainian drone attack killed three people in Russia’s Belgorod region.
More than four years after the start of Russia’s large-scale offensive against Ukraine, the two warring countries are ramping up long-range strikes, causing a growing number of civilian casualties.
Russia is relying on “ballistic terror,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media, stating that 61 missiles of various types had been fired at his country this week.
“More pressure, more sanctions against Russia and more air defence for Ukraine are needed,” he said.
The two people killed by a Russian drone strike were in the major northeastern city of Kharkiv, where four floors of a residential building were also destroyed, Zelensky.
Twenty-three people were also injured, according to regional governor Oleg Synegoubov. Images he shared show a gutted building with emergency services working at the scene.
According to the Ukrainian president, eight people were also injured overnight in Odesa, where strikes damaged the power grid, the port, and residential buildings.
Zelensky condemned another “absolutely brutal” strike targeting energy infrastructure near a shopping centre in Pavlohrad, in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Nine people, including four children, were injured there, he said.
Images posted on social media Saturday evening — which AFP has not been able to verify — show buildings on fire in what appears to be a commercial area.
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack on the border city of Belgorod killed three people, according to the region’s acting governor, Alexander Shuvaev.
Twenty-five people, including children aged four and nine, were also injured, he added.
Fires broke out in cars, two apartment buildings, and a house, according to him.
A video released by Russian media shows an apartment building engulfed in flames at night, watched by residents gathered across the street.
According to the United Nations, the conflict has claimed more civilian lives this year.
The Russian invasion, which began four and a half years ago, continues with prospects of a peace agreement largely stalled.
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