Russia Ukraine attacks kill 10, including child in Chernihiv
Officials reported deadly strikes across Ukraine and occupied Donetsk as Kyiv and Moscow traded drone, missile and bomb attacks.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
Russia Ukraine attacks killed at least 10 people on Sunday, according to officials on both sides, as strikes hit Ukrainian cities and Russian-occupied territory. Ukrainian officials reported six deaths from Russian attacks, while Russian-installed authorities said four people died in a Ukrainian drone strike in occupied Donetsk.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired seven ballistic missiles and launched 136 drones overnight. Officials said Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv were among the cities hit.
What happened in the latest Russia Ukraine attacks?
In Chernihiv, local officials said a Russian drone struck a supermarket, killing two people, including a nine-year-old girl, and injuring 25 others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the strike an attack on an ordinary supermarket and said it had no military justification.
In Kharkiv, the city’s mayor said one person was killed and 16 others needed medical care after a daytime drone attack. In Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said a glide bomb strike killed one person and wounded six.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an overnight missile attack started a fire on the seventh and eighth floors of a multi-storey apartment building in a central district. He said three people were wounded in the capital, and Ukraine’s emergency service released images showing burning vehicles.
In Sloviansk, Naftogaz said two of its employees were killed in a Russian attack while helping residents affected by an earlier strike. Sloviansk is in Donetsk, where Russian forces have been making slow gains, according to officials cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters.
What did Russian officials report?
In Horlivka, a Russian-occupied city in Donetsk, Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said a Ukrainian drone strike killed four civilians. He later said another Ukrainian drone hit an emergency vehicle, wounding three medics and one other resident.
Russian authorities also said at least 12 people, including two children, were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Belgorod, a Russian city near the border with Ukraine. Moscow said a Ukrainian strike a day earlier killed 12 people in a Russian-occupied town on the Azov Sea.
Why are civilian casualties rising?
Both Moscow and Kyiv deny aiming at civilians in the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The United Nations says civilian casualties have risen sharply in 2026 in both Ukraine and Russia.
UN officials say 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 wounded in Ukraine during the first six months of 2026. In Russia, the UN says 250 civilians were killed and 1,596 injured over the same period.
Analysts cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters link the higher toll to wider use of short-range drones and glide bombs, along with more attacks on infrastructure. Glide bombs are aircraft-dropped bombs fitted with wings or guidance systems, allowing them to strike from farther away than unguided bombs.
Diplomatic efforts have made little visible progress. United States-led talks on ending the fighting have stalled, while the Kremlin still controls parts of eastern and southern Ukraine and has said it aims to take the rest of eastern Ukraine by force.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.