Fresh Russian aerial attacks across multiple regions of Ukraine left at least six civilians dead and dozens more injured on Saturday, marking another chapter of persistent targeting of civilian infrastructure in the 2-year full-scale invasion, Ukrainian officials have confirmed.
The deadliest violence unfolded in the eastern industrial city of Dnipro, where two separate strikes hit the same residential neighborhood over a short period. First, an overnight strike on a multi-story apartment block claimed four lives and left 27 people injured, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, announced via Telegram. A follow-up strike on a second residential building in the same area killed one additional civilian and wounded seven more, Ganzha added.
Further south in the Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian drone strike struck a civilian minibus, killing one passenger and wounding four others, regional administration head Ivan Fedorov confirmed in a Telegram post.
In a public address following the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Russian military tactics have not shifted throughout the conflict: Moscow relies on a combination of attack drones, cruise missiles, and large volumes of ballistic missiles, with most of its targets located in urban areas far from front lines. “Residential buildings, energy facilities and businesses have been damaged,” he said, adding that the unrelenting attacks on civilian populations demand a much stronger response from Ukraine’s international partners, particularly European nations.
“Every such strike should serve as a reminder to our partners that the situation requires immediate and firm action, and the rapid strengthening of our air defence,” Zelenskyy stated, renewing his call for the European Union to ramp up punitive sanctions against Russia.
The appeal came just two days after EU leaders finally approved the bloc’s 20th package of sanctions against Moscow, a measure that had been stalled for months by former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who left office two weeks ago. The new sanctions package targets Russia’s banking sector and tightens restrictions on Russian oil exports. Alongside the sanctions, the EU also approved a €90 billion ($105 billion) long-term loan for Ukraine, earmarked to reinforce the country’s air defense and cover core state budget expenses through 2027.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, civilian casualties have become a daily occurrence across Ukraine, with bombardments hitting populated areas on an almost constant basis. Saturday’s attacks also drew a reciprocal response on Russian territory: one person was injured in a Ukrainian drone strike in Russia’s western Kursk region, which shares a border with Ukraine, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein announced Saturday. In neighboring Belgorod region, another series of Ukrainian drone strikes left one woman dead, a man with life-threatening injuries after an attack on a civilian car, and a second man wounded when his tractor was targeted, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II remain deadlocked. U.S. mediation efforts that once focused on negotiating a path to peace have been redirected to the ongoing outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, leaving no active negotiations toward a ceasefire or peace deal in place.