A “massive” overnight Russian attack on central and southeastern Ukraine has killed at least one person, with homes and businesses damaged in multiple cities, authorities have said, while Kyiv has struck two Russian oil refineries.
“At night, the enemy carried out massive strikes” on Zaporizhia, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram on Saturday.
At least one person was killed and 24 others were wounded, including two children, according to regional military administration chief Ivan Fedorov.
“Russian strikes destroyed private houses, damaged many facilities, including cafes, service stations and industrial enterprises,” Fedorov said.
Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region also came under attack early on Saturday, the governor said, reporting strikes in Dnipro and Pavlohrad.
“The region is under a massive attack. Explosions are being heard,” Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram, warning residents to take cover.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Dnipropetrovsk had been largely spared from intense fighting.
But Kyiv acknowledged on Tuesday that Russian troops had entered the region, after Moscow claimed it had gained a foothold there.
Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Crimea – that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.
The Ukrainian air force said it struck down 510 of 537 drones and 38 of 45 missiles launched by Russia in its overnight attack, adding that it recorded five missile and 24 drone hits at seven locations.
In the meantime, the Ukrainian military said that it struck Russian oil refineries overnight. The military said it recorded multiple explosions and a fire at the Krasnodar oil refinery. There was also a fire in the Syzran oil refinery area in the Samara region.
Kyiv reeling from deadly attack
The new Russian attacks come two days after a huge Russian drone and missile attack rocked Kyiv and its residents, one of the worst on the capital in the war now in its fourth year, which authorities said killed up to 25 people.
Authorities said 22 of those killed, including four children, had been residents of an apartment building destroyed in the city’s eastern Darnytskyi district.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said the strike, which damaged the offices of the European Union and British Council, was the second-largest attack since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy said that Moscow had used preparation time for a summit of leaders to launch new massive attacks on his country. “The only way to reopen a window of opportunity for diplomacy is through tough measures against all those bankrolling the Russian army and effective sanctions against Moscow itself – banking and energy sanctions,” he wrote on X.
Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday that it was not possible to imagine giving back Russian assets frozen inside the bloc due to the war unless Moscow had paid reparations.
“We can’t possibly imagine that … if … there is a ceasefire or peace deal that these assets are given back to Russia if they haven’t paid for the reparations,” she told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen.
Zelenskyy has urged allies to swiftly elevate talks on security guarantees for Ukraine to the level of leaders, as EU defence ministers meeting Friday in the Danish capital pledged to train Kyiv’s troops on Ukrainian soil in the event of a truce.
The Ukrainian president said he expected to continue talks with European leaders next week on “NATO-like” commitments to protect Ukraine, adding that United States President Donald Trump should also be involved.
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