As warfare continues in Ukraine’s south and east, Russian strikes kill 8 civilians

KYIV: As furious battle rages on in Ukraine’s efforts to drive Russian forces out of area they have captured, Russian attacks on 11 locations across the country over the course of one night have killed at least eight civilians and injured others, according to authorities.

Russian forces shelled the community of Niu-York, south of the city of Bakhmut, which was the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war until it was conquered by Moscow in May, on Friday night, according to the regional prosecutor’s office in the eastern Donetsk region. At least four people, including a married couple, were reported dead. Three more Niu-York residents were sent to the hospital.

Also on Saturday morning, the interior ministry of Ukraine said that two civilians had perished as a result of Russian forces’ Friday missile attacks on Kostiantynivka, a city in the Donetsk area. The ministry announced that a second civilian had been hurt in the same incident, which reportedly destroyed 20 private residences, cars and a gas pipeline.

Russian cruise missiles demolished the neighbourhood cultural centre and damaged residential buildings, killing two additional persons close to Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Russian border, the regional military administration announced on Saturday morning. Only stating that the attack occurred within the preceding 24 hours, it did not give a specific time for when it occurred.

According to local governor Serhiy Lysak, three residents were hurt when Russian military shelled a community close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station overnight.

Ukrainian officials have frequently accused Moscow of firing on neighbouring Ukrainian-held territory from the Zaporizhzhia factory, which Russian forces captured early in the conflict. Additionally, worries have grown that Russia could sabotage the plant, which is the biggest in Europe, in an effort to thwart Ukraine’s current counteroffensive, which has been concentrated on the Zaporizhzhia area as well as the nation’s industrial east.

No air raid warnings were heard by AP journalists in Kyiv during the peaceful night in the Ukrainian capital.

On Saturday morning, the Ukrainian air force announced that it had destroyed 14 Russian drones overnight, including five that were produced in Iran over the country’s troubled southeast. In a routine social media statement, the air force noted that Ukraine was increasingly successful in neutralising the Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones that Russian troops had launched during the night.