KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Russia and exchanged strikes overnight that killed civilians and injured many others on both sides, local authorities reported.
Large-scale Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have become in recent weeks, with Moscow exploiting Ukraine鈥檚 critical shortage of interceptors for the 鈥� the sole air defense weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles.
In the latest attacks, Ukrainian drones killed five people and injured two dozen others, including a 4-year-old boy, in Russia鈥檚 border region of Belgorod, according to the regional administration.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Russian missiles struck a high-rise apartment block in the Saltivskyi district, killing two people and injuring 13, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov. Eight more people were injured in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa after 鈥渄ozens of missiles and drones鈥� struck the city and surrounding region, according to local administration head Oleh Kiper.
Ukraine鈥檚 President has for months lobbied other countries, especially the U.S., to send Ukraine more Patriot systems made scarcer by the , arguing they are crucial for defending civilians.
Failing that, Zelenskyy wants to or from Elon Musk to use his to guide strikes inside Russia that can hit its missile launchers.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has kept up long-range drone strikes against , as well as the country鈥檚 , and other targets deep inside Russia, sparking a fuel crisis.
Russia鈥檚 defense ministry on Sunday claimed its overnight strikes hit drone warehouses in the Kharkiv region, as well as fuel depots and stores of other materiel belonging to Ukraine鈥檚 armed forces at the port of Odesa.
It said its forces had shot down 153 Ukrainian drones during the night, including over Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.
In Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities said Ukrainian drone strikes damaged 29 apartment blocks and five private houses, as well as administrative buildings and unspecified 鈥渃ommercial facilities.鈥�
Debris from Ukrainian drones also fell on two enterprises and a private home in the Russian city of Novorossiysk, mayor Andrey Kravchenko said on Sunday. He did not specify what the commercial sites were. Regional authorities later said falling debris had injured one person, damaged two private houses, and blew out a window in an apartment block.
A major fuel terminal is located at Novorossiysk that links Kazakhstan’s oil fields to markets around the world, and which has previously been a target for Ukrainian strikes.
Moldova says blast near Ukraine border caused by drone
A 鈥減owerful explosion鈥� believed to be from a combat drone was reported in the village of Crocmaz, in southeast Moldova near the border with Ukraine, local police said Sunday.
No one was injured by the impact, which caused a vegetation fire in the Stefan Voda district, police said, adding that 鈥渇ragments of a combat drone were found at the scene鈥� and would be examined by specialists. Police did not specify the origin of the drone.
since Russia launched its full-scale war in neighboring Ukraine.
Bulgaria summons Ukrainian ambassador over drone incident
Bulgaria has summoned Ukraine’s ambassador after , the country’s public broadcaster BNT reported on Sunday.
The drone exploded on Saturday close to an international gas pipeline shortly after crossing the border . No casualties or damage were reported.
Bulgaria’s defense ministry said the drone appeared to be the type used by Ukrainian armed forces, and that the incident was likely accidental.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said the incident was being examined, but that it did not deliberately target Bulgaria. Ukraine and Bulgaria were in 鈥渃lose contact鈥� to clarify what had happened, he added.
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AP writer Stephen McGrath contributed from Leamington Spa, England.
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