Ukraine says Russia launched 200-plus drones in overnight attack, leaves six dead
Listen to this article
Average 3 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
Russian troops launched an offensive in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday, killing at least six people, regional officials said, after a US-imposed ceasefire expired.
Ukrainian officials said Russia had launched more than 200 drones overnight, ending hopes of an extension to the three-day deal that expired on Monday.
Meanwhile, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that his country’s military attacked the gas facilities in the center of Orenburg, which is more than 1,500 kilometers away from its borders.
A drone struck a building in Zelenskyy’s hometown, in the center of the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, killing two and injuring four, including the couple’s nine-month-old grandson, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha and the head of the military unit, Oleksandr Vilkul, Telegram said.
The child’s leg was amputated.
‘Russia continues to kill and maim Ukrainians’: Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy, also writing in Telegram, criticized the strike as “senseless and without any military sense.”
“After the end of the three-day ceasefire, Russia continues to kill and maim Ukrainians, so the pressure on it should never be weakened,” he said.
The US agreement between Russia and Ukraine is expected to expire on Monday. Both sides accuse each other of breaking the law. Journalist Emmanuelle Chaze reports from Kharkiv, where she says the sound of air raid sirens is constant.
In the northeast of Kryvyi Rih, a bomb strike killed four and wounded three, Hanzha said.
Ukraine and Russia had agreed to cease hostilities in connection with the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War, as part of the US-led peace campaign under US President Donald Trump after more than four years of war.
Trump said on Friday that he hoped the deal would be extended.
Ukraine and Russia have been in a state of perpetual war since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
While neither side reported major airstrikes when the ceasefire ended, both sides said fighting had continued, blaming drone and artillery attacks.
Zelenskyy, speaking in his late-night speech, said Kyiv was working with its partners in Europe to develop ballistic missile defense technology, adding that 13 countries and NATO representatives participated in discussions on the issue on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv proposed extending the agreement, but Moscow instead escalated by targeting civilian infrastructure with more than 200 drones.
Kindergarten, the fate of ordinary people is damaged
Zelenskyy said that drones were intercepted in several regions but reported damage to power stations, apartments, a kindergarten and a train.
In Kyiv, debris from a fallen drone fell from the roof of a 16-story building in the northern district of Obolon, starting a fire, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Two people were injured in the central region of Cherkasy and damage was also recorded in Zhytomyr region, in the west, and in Chernihiv region on the Russian border.
Two people were injured in strikes in the southeast of the city of Dnipro and south of the city of Kherson. Russian drones have also attacked electrical infrastructure in Mykolaiv region, causing a blackout in the region, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said.
