Ukrainian officials say at least four people were killed early Saturday in a nighttime Russian attack on the capital Kiev.
Timur Tkachenko, head of the Ukrainian capital’s military administration, said on Telegram that the deaths occurred in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district. He said Holosiivskyi District, located on the west bank of the Dnipro River, which runs through the city, and Desnyanskyi District, located on the opposite bank, were affected by falling debris.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said air defense work was underway around the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address that at least four people were killed and 14 others injured in a Russian missile strike in the south-central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday.
“These kinds of attacks, these kinds of losses, simply would not have happened if we had got all the necessary air defense systems that we have been talking about for so long with our allies and that are available in the world,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, Zelensky, who was born in Kryvyi Rih, had condemned the attack on Telegram. He said, “Each such terrorist attack is a reminder of what we are dealing with. Russia will not stop on its own – it can only be stopped by joint pressure.”
An educational facility and two five-storey buildings were also damaged in the attack, officials said.
VOA was unable to independently verify the reports.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike late Friday night caused a fire at an industrial site in Russia’s Kaluga region, about 170 km from the shared border.
“As a result of the drone strike in Lyudinovo, a fire broke out on the territory of an industrial enterprise,” regional governor Vladislav Shapsha posted on Telegram.
Agence France-Presse reported that unverified video on unofficial Russian social media showed what they said was an attack targeting an oil depot.
US President-elect Donald Trump had earlier said that he would be able to stop the war in Ukraine in a day, but he did not say how he would do so.
Trump aides recently said the new plan aims to end the war within the administration’s first 100 days.
Some information in this report has been received from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.