KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A Russian drone slammed into a tower block in eastern Ukraine early on Saturday while many were sleeping, killing three and injuring 12 people, Ukrainian authorities reported.
The attack in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, was part of a large Russian missile and drone barrage across the country that targeted energy infrastructure.
In eastern Ukraine, fighting for the strategic city of Pokrovsk has reached a key stage, with both Kyiv and Moscow vying to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump that they can win on the battlefield.
Russia fired a total of 458 drones and 45 missiles, including 32 ballistic missiles. Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 406 drones and nine missiles, the air force said, adding that 25 locations were struck.
Authorities switched off power in several regions due to the attacks, Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk said in a post on Facebook.
A fire broke out and several apartments were destroyed in the nine-story building in Dnipro, the emergency services said. Rescuers recovered the bodies of three people and two children were among the injured.
Almost four years after its all-out invasion, Russia has been pummeling Ukraine with near-daily drone and missile strikes, with many civilians killed and injured. The Kremlin claims its only targets are linked to Kyiv’s war effort. Russia’s Defense Ministry asserted Saturday that the nighttime strikes hit military and energy sites supplying Ukrainian forces.
Moscow and Kyiv have traded almost daily assaults on each other’s energy targets as U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the nearly four-year war had no impact on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
Russian forces, meanwhile, repelled a “massive” nighttime strike on energy facilities in the southern Volgograd region, its Gov. Andrei Bocharov said Saturday, two days after Ukraine claimed to have hit a key oil refinery there with long-range drones. Bocharov added that the strike knocked out power in parts of the region’s northwest, but caused no casualties. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its forces shot down 82 Ukrainian drones during the night, including eight over the Volgograd region. Two people were injured in the neighboring Saratov region after a Ukrainian drone strike blew out windows in an apartment block, according to regional Gov. Roman Busarin.
Pokrovsk sits along the eastern front line, part of what has been dubbed the “fortress belt” of Donetsk, a line of heavily fortified cities crucial to Ukraine’ s defense of the region. It could also be a key point in influencing Washington’s stance and sway the course of peace negotiations, analysts say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claims his forces are on the cusp of winning. As a prerequisite for peace, he demands that Ukraine cede the Donbas, made up of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, one of his key war aims.
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