Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine have killed at least four people and wounded several others, local officials say, as Kyiv’s allies push sweeping measures against Moscow as the war nears its four-year mark.
Two people were killed in a ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and nine were wounded in the overnight attacks, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said on Saturday.
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Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said a blaze erupted in a non-residential building in one location as a result of the attacks, while debris from intercepted missiles fell in an open area at another site, damaging windows in nearby buildings.
“Explosions in the capital. The city is under ballistic attack,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a social media post.
In the central-east Dnipropetrovsk region, acting Governor Vladyslav Haivanenko said two people were killed and seven wounded in a Russian attack. He added apartment buildings, private homes, an outbuilding, a shop and at least one vehicle were damaged in the strikes.
One of the victims was an emergency worker, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “One rescuer was killed and another wounded as a result of a repeated missile strike on the Petropavlivska community in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” the ministry said on social media.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired nine Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 62 attack drones. Four ballistic missiles and 50 drones were downed, it added.
There was no immediate comment by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
For its part, Russia blamed Ukraine on Saturday for striking a dam on a local reservoir. In a statement on Telegram, Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said repeated strikes on the dam had increased a risk of flooding and advised residents in Shebekino and Bezlyudovka to leave their homes for temporary accommodation.
Belgorod region borders Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region and has previously come under attack by Ukrainian forces.
Overall, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences had shot down 121 Ukrainian drones over Russia overnight.
Pressuring Putin to end war
The attacks come as Kyiv’s Western allies ratchet up pressure on Russia as the war enters its fourth winter.
The United States and the European Union announced new sweeping sanctions this week on Russian energy aimed at crippling Moscow’s war economy.
US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s top oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, on Wednesday in an effort to pressure Moscow to reach a ceasefire. The EU adopted a new round of sanctions against Russian energy exports on Thursday, banning liquefied natural gas imports.
At a joint news conference in London on Friday after a meeting of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the sanctions and called for additional pressure on all Russian oil companies, as well as military aid to bolster Ukraine’s long-range missile capabilities.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy said the overnight attacks intensified his country’s need for air defence systems. “It is precisely because of such attacks that we pay special attention to Patriot systems – to be able to protect our cities from this horror. It is critical that partners who possess relevant capability implement what we have discussed in recent days,” he wrote on social media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not bend to pressure from the West. “No self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure,” he said, calling the US sanctions an “unfriendly act.”
Putin has called for the complete disarmament of Ukraine and for Russia to keep any territory it has seized during the war. That position seems to be non-negotiable for Ukraine. Trump, who before his return to the White House in January, had boasted of being able to end the war in 24 hours if re-elected – has been unable to make any headway between the two positions.
Plans for an in-person meeting between Trump and Putin fell apart this week after the US president proposed “freezing” the war with a ceasefire along the current front lines.
Despite ongoing disagreements, Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, on Friday said he believed a diplomatic solution was close.