KYIV: Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine on Saturday, killing eight people and damaging dozens of residential buildings as well as energy infrastructure across the country, Ukrainian officials said.
The Interior Ministry said that a Russian missile struck a residential building in the central city of Poltava, killing four people and injuring 13, including three children.
The ministry posted pictures on the Telegram messaging app showing the building with several top floors smashed and thick columns of smoke rising into the sky. Firefighters and dozens of rescuers were searching through the rubble.
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One person was killed and four were wounded in the city of Kharkiv in the northeast in a drone attack, the mayor said.
Three police officers were killed during the attacks as they patrolled streets in a village in the northeastern region of Sumy, regional officials said.
“Last night Russia attacked our cities using various types of weapons: missiles, attack drones, and aerial bombs,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, adding damage was caused in six regions.
“Each such terrorist attack proves that we need more support in defending ourselves against Russian terror. Every air defence system, every anti-missile weapon, saves lives,” he said on the Telegram app.
INFRASTRUCTURE TARGETED
In Poltava, a small city located around 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the Russian border, about 18 apartment buildings, a kindergarten, and energy infrastructure were damaged, city authorities said.
Ukrainian officials said that damage was also registered in the city of Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Kharkiv and Sumy regions in the northeast, and Khmelnytskyi in the west.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces used six missiles and 17 Shahed drones to target gas infrastructure and other facilities.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that its forces had launched attacks aimed at Ukraine’s gas and other energy infrastructure and had shot down 108 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, Russian news agencies reported.
Since March 2024, Russia has launched multiple missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s power sector and other energy infrastructure, knocking out about half of the country’s available generating capacity and forcing rolling blackouts.
As the war approaches its three-year mark this month and Russian forces make small but steady gains in eastern Ukraine, edging closer to the strategic logistic hub of Pokrovsk, both sides are using drones to hit infrastructure and disrupt military supply lines.
Moscow’s strikes early on Saturday followed a Russian missile attack the previous evening which damaged the historic centre of the Black Sea port of Odesa.