A Russian missile strike on a town in southeastern Ukraine and the ensuing fire killed at least Seven civilians, including three childrenThe country’s authorities said on Sunday as they investigated the casualties caused by two days of fierce Russian attacks.
In addition to the victims, dozens of people were wounded in Saturday’s attack in the southeastern town of Vilnyansk, including a pregnant woman and five 14-year-old girls, Yuri Bolzenko, chief doctor at the Zaporizhia Regional Children’s Hospital, said in a telephone interview.
Dr. Bolzenko said the girls were out walking together in the afternoon sun when shells blasted through the town center, setting shops, cars and houses ablaze. Shrapnel lodged in one of the girls’ skulls, he said, leaving her in a coma and “between life and death.”
“I just met her parents and they are in a very bad state,” he added.
As the attacks continued, Ukrainian President Zelensky reiterated his Request for easing of restrictions Use American long-range missiles (ATACMS) so that Ukrainian warplanes can target Russian air bases before they take off for bombing.
“Long-range strikes and modern air defenses are fundamental to stopping Russia’s daily terrorist activities,” he said on Sunday. Statement accompanying the video The painting is said to show the aftermath of some of the worst attacks this week.
The attack in Vilnyansk was one of a series across Ukraine that have killed at least 24 civilians and wounded dozens more since Friday evening, according to local officials and emergency workers.
Also on Saturday, nine residents of a frontline village in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine were killed in Russian shelling. Local officials said.Officials added that at least six people were killed in the shelling on Sunday morning.
Three powerful guided bombs dropped by Russian warplanes exploded in the town of Dekhach in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday, hitting five multi-storey apartment buildings. Ukrainian officials saidNo fatalities were reported, but two elderly men were said to be hospitalized with shrapnel injuries.
Zelensky said Sunday that Russian warplanes had dropped about 800 of the powerful bombs, which contain hundreds of pounds of explosives, over the past week.
Although the Ukrainian air force said it shot down 10 Russian drones on Saturday, a 67-year-old man was killed in an attack in the southern Kherson region. Local officials said.
A Russian missile also struck a high-rise apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday night. After days of searching the rubble, Rescuers said As of Sunday, one person was confirmed dead and two others were missing.
All of the attacks were reported by phone to local officials, the national police, emergency services and local hospitals, and many of the aftermath was captured by Ukrainian news media. All of them occurred within a 48-hour period, and they were part of a daily pattern of violence.
While strengthening its front-line offensive, Russian forces are also exploiting air defense gaps and continuing to launch attacks across Ukraine in an effort to drain Ukraine’s resources, destroy its economy, and break the spirit of its people.
The total number of civilian deaths in June is not yet known, but May was the deadliest month for civilians in Ukraine in a year. According to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Group.
The mission’s investigators reported that violence stemming from the conflict that month left at least 174 civilians dead and 690 injured.
As the death toll rises, bombing of Ukraine’s power grid continues, making life more difficult for millions of residents, who endure hours of scheduled power outages every day.
Russia frequently attacks thermal power plants across Ukraine, causing a 90% loss of electricity production, said Ildar Saliev, head of DTEK, one of Ukraine’s main private power companies. In a statement.
“Due to the scale of the destruction, repair work will take years rather than months,” Saleev wrote.
Ukrainian officials have been trying to prepare the public for what could be another difficult winter and have called on international allies to speed up the deployment of air defenses to limit further damage and save lives.
Energy officials say that even in the best-case scenario – where there is no further major damage to the grid – Ukrainians should prepare for widespread power outages during the winter.
Serhii Kovalenko, head of Yasno, another private Ukrainian energy company, said the energy system appeared set to see severe daily shortages as winter approached.
“Consumers could face a 50% shortfall if critical infrastructure is repaired and the remaining power is then distributed. Therefore, the base case forecast is a 12-hour blackout,” he said in a statement.
Anna Lukinova Reporting from Kiev also contributed. Natalia Novosolova Contributed to research.
