At least eight killed as Russian strikes hit Ukrainian cities
Ukrainian officials reported deadly attacks in Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia as the Kremlin said its terms for a peace deal had not changed.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
2 min read
Russian missile and drone attacks killed at least eight people and injured 34 others in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said Monday. The strikes hit cities near the front line as Moscow signaled it had not softened its terms for ending the war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a missile strike on Dnipro killed at least five people and wounded 28. He condemned what he called “horrific attacks” and said Russia also struck the Sumy, Odesa, Chernihiv, Kherson and Kharkiv regions.
Dnipro, an industrial city about 100 km from the front line, has been repeatedly targeted by Russian forces, according to Ukrainian officials. Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram that a 13-year-old girl was among those killed in the Dnipro attack.
Hanzha posted images showing a damaged building with broken windows and a blurred image of a body near a stairwell. He said the wounded suffered injuries including traumatic brain injuries, shrapnel wounds, fractures and blast trauma.
Zelenskyy said a separate drone strike on Zaporizhzhia killed at least three people and injured six others, including a child. The city lies about 30 km from the front line and serves as the administrative center of a region Russia claims to have annexed but does not fully control.
The latest attacks came as the Kremlin said Russia’s position on a peace agreement remained the same as it was in 2024. Kremlin officials said President Vladimir Putin’s terms still require Ukrainian forces to withdraw from four regions Moscow claims as Russian territory and for Kyiv to publicly abandon its effort to join NATO.
In a weekend television interview, Putin said Russia would continue pursuing full control of those regions. He also rejected what he described as a Ukrainian proposal to reduce the scope of the fighting.
Putin said Kyiv had suggested both sides stop long-range strikes and limit combat to four regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian officials did not announce such a proposal in the reported comments.
Russia claims those four regions as its own, although it does not fully control all of them. The fighting around them has remained central to the war, while Ukrainian cities away from the immediate front line continue to face missile and drone attacks.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.