Escalation Continues as Both Sides Report Civilian Casualties
At least 11 people were killed in Ukrainian strikes on holiday camps in the partly Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed officials said on Saturday. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported that a Russian drone strike in the northeastern Sumy region killed three people.
In Zaporizhzhia, Kremlin-installed regional head Yevgeny Balitsky said four children were among the dead and 14 people were wounded in the attack on the resorts. "The enemy saw and understood who it was targeting," he stated on Telegram. Ukraine did not immediately comment on the attack.
Sumy regional head Oleh Hryhorov said three people were killed when a large fire broke out after a Russian drone struck a "civilian facility," with the victims identified as drivers for the private Ukrainian postal and courier service Nova Poshta. Russia's Defence Ministry said it attacked a "storage and launch site" for Ukrainian drones in the Sumy region.
Kyiv Reports Strikes on Civilian Targets in Ukraine
On the Ukrainian side, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 13 people were wounded in what he called a "deeply cynical drone strike on an ordinary supermarket" in the northern city of Chernihiv. He added that Russia had launched ballistic missiles at Kyiv, wounding several people, and that Moscow's strikes killed one person in Zaporizhzhia and another in Kharkiv. "This is deliberate Russian terror with absolutely no military justification," Zelenskyy said.
Russian-Install officials, meanwhile, said a Ukrainian drone strike on a bus stop in Moscow-held Horlivka killed four people, with another person killed in the occupied part of the Kherson region. A description of falls were also reported, and authorities in Russia's border Belgorod region said one person was killed by a Ukrainian strike.
Strikes on Russian Coastal Areas
In a nearby incident to the main exchange, a Ukrainian strike on a Black Sea resort in Arkhipo-Osipovka killed at least seven people, including three children, according to the crisis task force for Russia's southern Krasnodar region. Governor Veniamin Kondratyev earlier announced the attack and accused Kyiv of targeting civilian spots far away from military installations. Sergey Aksyonov, Moscow's governing official in Crimea, reported four killed in a separate Ukrainian strike on the annexed peninsula. Kyiv did not confirm these strikes.
Warning of a Large-Scale Attack
Zelenskyy issued a warning in his Friday evening address that intelligence assessments indicated Russia was preparing to launch a large-scale attack on Ukraine, scraping air warnings for the possible strike within the next 48 hours. The warning came after a Russian attack near Kyiv on Friday killed at least 10 people and wounded around 100, according to Ukrainian officials.
Romania Shoots Down Drone
Romania's defence on Saturday said its forces "safely shot down" a drone breaching its airspace in an unpopulated area near the Ukrainian border. Romanian President Nicusor Dan stated the drone was "shot down by a Romanian pilot from an F-16 aircraft," coming a day after a suspected Russian drone had been intercepted near the border area.
Key Claims
- Ukrainian attacks on holiday camps in the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region killed 11 people, according to Moscow-installed officials (source: The Hindu–World, ABC Australia).
- Ukrainian regional head Osh Hryhorov reported three deaths in a Russian drone strike on a "civilian facility" in the Sum region (The Hindu–World, Al Jazeera).
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 13 people were wounded in a drone strike on a supermarket in Chernihiv (Al Jazeera, France 24).
- A Ukrainian drone attack on the Black Sea resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka killed at least seven people, including three children, according to Russian regional authorities (Deutsche Welle, France 24).
- Romania's defence shot down a second drone breaching its airspace near the Ukrainian border, as confirmed by President Nicolae Dan (Al Jazeera).