Russian strikes kill four in Ukraine as Zelenskyy seeks stronger global action

Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine as air strikes intensified on both sides. Zelenskyy urged stronger international pressure, warning Moscow is escalating daily.

In Short

• Two women died after their Zaporizhzhia home collapsed in shelling
• A separate strike on Sumy killed two residents, officials confirmed
• Kyiv reported warehouse fires, wounded civilians and damage across districts

Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine on Saturday, officials said, as the aerial war between Moscow and Kyiv intensified. Russia has been striking Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs and jet-powered drones, even as front-line progress has slowed some four-and-a-half years after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was stepping up its attacks and urged stronger international action. "It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day. If the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further," he wrote on Saturday.

Zelenskyy said there had been "numerous strikes on residential homes" in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, and in the Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv regions. In Zaporizhzhia, two women died after they were trapped beneath the rubble of their home, the regional military administration said. In a separate Russian attack on the city of Sumy, two people were killed, local officials said.

Ukraine, meanwhile, continued to target Russian oil refineries and industrial sites with long-range drones. In Russia's southern Krasnodar region, a Ukrainian drone attack killed three people and wounded two, local officials said on Saturday. Regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram that the attack caused fires at two industrial sites, but gave no further details. Russian media later reported that an oil refinery had been targeted.

Ukrainian attacks also killed three people overnight in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed regional head Yevgeny Balitsky said on Saturday, according to Russian state media. Earlier this week, Zelenskyy had appealed at the United Nations for countries to cut off Russia's revenue through sanctions and trade restrictions, saying Moscow should be denied the money it needs to prolong the war. Despite years of diplomatic efforts, there has been no breakthrough towards ending the conflict.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, two people were injured overnight in the Kyiv region after a Russian drone strike caused a fire at a warehouse in the Boryspil district. Russian drones also hit several districts of the capital, injuring four people and damaging residential and office buildings, officials said. Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday that the attack on Kyiv damaged a data centre supporting mobile internet services and Starlink satellite communications.

The attacks on both sides underlined the growing intensity of the air war, with deaths reported in Ukraine and Russia, damage to homes and industrial sites, and fresh calls from Kyiv for stronger international pressure on Moscow.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends