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At least seven people were killed in fresh Russian strikes across Ukraine overnight, authorities said, just hours ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Ankara.
One person was killed in the capital Kyiv, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko, who reported warehouses caught fire after a missile strike.
A first large blast in Kyiv was heard shortly after midnight even before the city’s air alert sirens sounded, a rare failure in the system that has spooked residents of the capital.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a mother and daughter were killed in the southern region of Mykolaiv when Russian forces attacked with guided aerial bombs, regional military head Vitaliy Kim said.
Two people were killed in the northeastern Kharkiv region and another two in the frontline Kherson region in the south, officials said.
Russia has hit the Ukrainian capital with several large deadly attacks over the last week, killing more than 50 this month in a spate of ballistic missile and drone strikes.
At the NATO summit in Ankara, Zelenskyy has been urging his allies to deliver ammunition for US-made Patriot air defence systems, which are key in stopping Russia’s ultra-fast hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles.
Ukraine has also upped its attacks on Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of ageing tankers that export its vital oil products, bringing in crucial revenue for Russia’s stuttering economy.
The commander of Kyiv’s drone forces said 21 Russian ships in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov had been hit over the last 72 hours.
Additional sources • AFP