Russia launched a wave of missiles, glide bombs and drones across Ukraine overnight, killing more than a dozen people and damaging buildings, local officials said on Saturday.
Eleven people were killed and 16 injured, including four children, when a missile hit a residential building in the central city of Poltava, authorities there said. Previously they reported 10 killed and 17 injured, but an injured person died in hospital. The region has called for a three-day mourning period.
At least four people were killed in Sudzha in the Russian region of Kursk after Russia fired a guided aerial bomb, known as a glide bomb, at a school being used as an emergency shelter, the Ukrainian general staff announced.
In a Facebook post, it said 84 civilians were rescued and provided medical care and four were in critical condition.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack was how Russia waged war.
“They destroyed the building even though dozens of civilians were there,” he wrote on social media platform X.
“This is a state devoid of civility. And this is an evil that will not stop on its own. But if we act strongly and decisively, even Russia can be forced to stop. And this must be done to ensure the world is safe from Russian bombs.”
Ukrainian troops invaded the Russian Kursk region at the beginning of August and have since controlled dozens of villages there, including Sudzha.
Meanwhile, in the north-eastern city Sumy, not far from the Russian border, two people were killed in an attack, while another person died in a drone assault in the eastern city of Kharkiv.
There was also severe damage in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya and in the port of Odessa, where buildings in the historic city centre were hit and several people hurt.
Russia: Energy infrastructure targets destroyed
The Russian Ministry of Defence said the attacks had targeted the country’s energy infrastructure, which Ukraine uses to maintain the operation of its defence industry.
“The objectives of the strikes were achieved. All targeted objects were destroyed,” the ministry announced.
It is almost impossible to independently verify the information provided by the warring sides. Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s all-out war for almost three years.
