At least four people were killed and 10 others were wounded in a series of overnight attacks by Russia on Ukraine, officials said Friday.
In the Sumy region near the border with Russia, two women, an elderly man and a girl under two years old were killed when a Russian drone hit a house, according to local officials.
Seven people were also injured after a Russian missile struck the city of Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
day of mourning in Kyiv
The overnight attacks came as Ukraine’s capital Kiev was scheduled to observe a day of mourning on Friday, a day after Russian attacks killed at least 30 people.
Timur Tkachenko, head of Kiev’s military administration, said Thursday’s attack, the deadliest on the capital this year, also left more than 90 people injured, adding that casualties were likely to rise as rescue efforts continued on Friday.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described it as “the biggest enemy attack on the capital”.
The Ukrainian Red Cross said its humanitarian warehouse had also been damaged by Russian attacks, with 320,000 relief items destroyed.
The organization said on its X account that the damage would impact “emergency response and humanitarian operations across Ukraine.”
Zelensky says more lives could have been saved
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly cut short a trip to Ireland in the wake of Thursday’s attacks.
In a video on his X account, he said that Ukraine’s allies should have provided air defense to his country as promised.
“If our partners had kept their promises on time, I think we could have saved more homes and lives today,” Zelensky said.
According to Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat, Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones at Ukraine overnight.
Moscow’s Defense Ministry said its “large-scale strikes” hit military and energy facilities, in retaliation for Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin was also briefed about the attacks.
EU is considering imposing more sanctions on Russia
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she would propose new sanctions on “entities that support Russia’s military-industrial complex” in response to the attacks.
“The more Moscow attacks civilians, the more sanctions should be imposed,” he posted on his X account on Thursday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the attacks, calling it a “deadly pattern” of Moscow attacking populated areas.
Russia’s full-scale war over Ukraine is in its fifth year, with U.S.-led mediation efforts so far making little progress toward an end to hostilities.
The Ukrainian president is set to attend the NATO summit next week, where he is expected to meet US President Donald Trump.
Edited by: Carl Sexton
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