Overnight strikes kill three across Ukraine and Russian-held areas
Officials reported deaths and injuries after Russian attacks hit Ukrainian regions and Ukrainian strikes targeted Volgograd and Horlivka.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
Overnight attacks by Russia and Ukraine killed three people and injured more than 30, local officials said Saturday. The strikes underscored the widening reach of the war, with Ukrainian regions hit by drones and bombs while Russian territory and Moscow-held areas also reported casualties.
Ukrainian officials said Russian attacks killed two people and wounded more than 20 across the country overnight into Saturday. Officials in Russian-controlled territory and inside Russia said Ukrainian attacks killed one person and injured 10.
Russian strikes hit several Ukrainian regions
In Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, regional military administration chief Oleksandr Ganja said on Telegram that Russian forces struck two districts more than 30 times using drones and aerial bombs. One person was killed in the region, officials said.
In the northern Sumy district, regional military Governor Oleh Hryhorov said a 66-year-old man died when a Russian drone hit a house. A separate statement from officials in the same border region described a large-scale attack that injured 10 people.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said nine people, including two children, were wounded in Zaporizhzhia, a southeastern city that has been repeatedly targeted during the war. The service said civilian infrastructure suffered extensive damage.
The emergency service said a residential high-rise was partly destroyed in Zaporizhzhia and that rescue crews pulled two people from the rubble. Images posted on Telegram showed severe damage to an apartment block, including a destroyed roof, broken windows, a damaged stairwell and a wrecked apartment.
Ukraine reports strike on Volgograd facility
Russian-installed officials in occupied eastern Ukraine also reported casualties from Ukrainian attacks. Ivan Prikhodko, the Moscow-installed mayor of Horlivka in the Russian-controlled part of Donetsk region, said on Telegram that one woman was killed in a Ukrainian strike on the town.
In Russia’s southwest, authorities in the Volgograd region said on Telegram that 10 people were injured in a Ukrainian attack. Regional officials also said industrial facilities were damaged.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that FP-5 Flamingo missiles had hit the Titan-Barrikady facility in Volgograd overnight. He described the site as a major industrial complex that produces artillery systems and specialized military equipment, including parts for missile launch systems used against Ukraine.
Al Jazeera and AFP reported that Ukraine has increased attacks in recent months against targets inside Russia and in territories occupied by Moscow’s forces. Recent Ukrainian operations have included strikes on Russian-occupied Crimea and satellite communications centers near Moscow, according to Al Jazeera.
Zelenskyy has said Russia responded to Ukrainian attacks deep inside its territory this year by moving air defense systems from some regions to Moscow and to the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia to Crimea. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has used the bridge as a key connection to the peninsula.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.