KYIV, Ukraine — Russian strikes killed four people across Ukraine on Saturday as the aerial conflict between Moscow and Kyiv intensifies.
Russia has bombarded Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, powerful glide bombs, and jet-powered drones, while frontline advances have stalled nearly four and a half years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.
“It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day. If the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday morning.
He cited “numerous strikes on residential homes” in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and the Odesa, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions.
Two women died in Zaporizhzhia when their home was destroyed, trapping them beneath the rubble, regional authorities said. A separate Russian attack on Sumy also killed two people, local officials reported.
Zelenskyy appealed at the United Nations earlier this week for countries to cut off Russian revenue through sanctions and trade bans, denying Moscow the funds needed to prolong the war. Despite years of diplomatic efforts, however, no breakthrough in ending the conflict appears imminent.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s long-range drones have struck Russian oil refineries and businesses. A Ukrainian drone attack on the southern Krasnodar region killed three people and wounded two, local officials said Saturday.
Regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram that the attack sparked fires at two industrial sites, though he provided no further details. Russian media outlets later reported that a local oil refinery had been targeted.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, two people were injured overnight in the Kyiv region when a Russian drone caused a fire at a warehouse in the Boryspil district. Russian drones also struck several districts in the Ukrainian capital, injuring four people and damaging residential and office buildings, officials said.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday that its attack on Kyiv had damaged a data center supporting both cellular internet services and Starlink satellite communication systems.