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A Russian drone struck a tower block in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro overnight into Saturday, killing two women and leaving a dozen people injured, according to Ukrainian authorities.
A fire broke out and several apartments were destroyed in the nine-story building in Dnipro, emergency services said. Emergency responders say they recovered the bodies of two women and added that two children were among those injured.
The attack on Ukraine’s fourth-largest city was part of a large Russian missile and drone incursion across the country that targeted energy infrastructure.
The Kremlin fired a barrage of 458 drones and 45 missiles, including 32 ballistic missiles in the early hours of Saturday, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Kyiv shot down and neutralised 406 drones and nine missiles, the air force noted, adding that 25 locations were struck.
Almost four years after its all-out invasion, Russia has been pummelling Ukraine with near-daily drone and missile strikes, with many civilians killed and injured.
Moscow claims its only targets are those linked to Kyiv’s war effort, including military position, energy sites and manufacturing hubs that contribute to Ukrainian defences.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that the overnight strikes hit military and energy sites, which are key to supplying Ukrainian forces with critical resources.
Moscow and Kyiv have traded almost daily assaults on each other’s energy targets as US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the war, well into its fourth year, have had no impact on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to continue the war. Kyiv noted previously that the energy sector is the primary source of funding for Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian officials say Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, electricity and running water in an attempt to “weaponise winter.”
Russian forces, meanwhile, repelled a “massive” overnight strike on energy facilities in the southern Volgograd region; which Ukrainian media say Kyiv targeted and severely damaged earlier this week.
Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Saturday, two days after Ukraine claimed to have hit a key oil refinery there with long-range drones, that the strike knocked out power in parts of the region’s northwest but caused no casualties. Kyiv did not comment on the strikes.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that its forces shot down 82 Ukrainian drones during the night, including eight over the Volgograd region.
Two people were injured in the neighbouring Saratov region after a Ukrainian drone strike blew out windows in an apartment block, according to local officials.
In eastern Ukraine, fighting for the strategic city of Pokrovsk has reached a critical stage, with both Kyiv and Moscow vying to persuade US President Donald Trump that they can win on the battlefield.
Pokrovsk sits along the eastern front line, part of what has been dubbed the “fortress belt” – a line of heavily fortified cities crucial to Ukraine’s defence of the region – of Donetsk in the eastern Donbas region. Control of the area can dictate how other battles in the Donbas take shape.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claims his forces are on the cusp of winning. He has previously demanded that Ukraine cede the Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk, to secure a peace deal and end the fighting.
Additional sources • AP