At least nine people have been killed and 23 others injured, including a child, in a fresh wave of Ukrainian and Russian strikes, officials on both sides have reported.
Eight people were killed in Russia’s western Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, over a 24-hour period, while a woman was killed in a drone strike in the southern Astrakhan region.
In Ukraine, two people were killed in Russian drone attacks in the northeastern Sumy region, while another two died in strikes on the eastern Donetsk region.
The latest attacks came a day after Russia described a Ukrainian drone assault as the largest-scale attack on the country so far this year. At least seven people were killed in those attacks.
Russian strikes on Ukraine on Saturday night also killed at least seven people and injured more than 39 others.
In Belgorod, acting regional governor Alexandr Shuvaev said a building was set on fire and a car was damaged in the village of Koloskovo. An injured child was taken to hospital, while two other people received medical attention.
In Astrakhan, Governor Igor Babushkin said a woman was killed when a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building. He said the attack had targeted an industrial facility, which was not damaged.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said two people were killed in Russian strikes on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the Donetsk region. The attacks also set fire to 54 trading pavilions at a market in Sloviansk.
In Sumy, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said a man and a woman were killed in an overnight Russian drone attack.
A separate Russian attack on the Black Sea port city of Odesa damaged a civilian vessel and injured four people, according to local officials.
Ukraine has intensified its long-range drone attacks on targets deep inside Russia in recent weeks. On Saturday night, Russian officials said Ukraine launched about 822 drones, with around 600 reportedly directed towards Moscow.
Five people were killed in Russia’s Rostov region, while a woman died when a civilian bus was attacked in Belgorod. An 83-year-old man was also killed in a drone attack in the Moscow region.
A warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries was among the sites hit. Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said the latest attack had brought to seven the number of the company’s 10 largest logistics centres that had been disabled since July.
Ukraine’s deputy intelligence chief, Maj Gen Vadym Skibitski, defended the long-range strikes, saying warehouses such as those operated by Wildberries were part of Russia’s military logistics network.
He said Ukraine did not deliberately target civilians and claimed some civilian deaths resulted from Russian air-defence systems intercepting incoming drones and missiles.
Russia, meanwhile, has intensified missile and drone attacks across Ukraine.
Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said on Monday that Russian forces had attacked its facilities 13 times over the past week.
During Saturday night’s Russian strikes, two people were killed when a private home was hit by a guided aerial bomb in the Zaporizhzhia region, while five others were killed in attacks elsewhere in Ukraine.
Russia said its strikes on Kyiv targeted a facility producing components for Ukraine’s Flamingo missiles and a factory manufacturing drone components.
The attacks also damaged a book market in Kyiv’s Pochayna district, where burnt books were seen scattered across the ground.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 13 regions had come under attack during the past week, with Russia launching more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 guided aerial bombs and 62 missiles.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
SOURCE: BBC