Russia, Ukraine trade accuasations over overnight strikes

ISTANBUL

Ukraine and Russia on Saturday accused each other of carrying out overnight airstrikes that killed 10 people and injured 10 others in Ukrainian territory while injuring one person in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used 29 missiles and 480 drones, most of them Shahed types, against Ukraine overnight.

According to a statement by Ukraine’s Air Defense Ministry, 19 missiles and 453 drones were shot down.

During the attack, a residential building in the city of Kharkiv was destroyed, killing seven people and injuring 10 others, including children, Zelenskyy said, adding that people may still be trapped under the rubble.

Later, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that three more bodies have been found under the rubble of a house.

“They targeted energy infrastructure in Kyiv, the Khmelnytskyi and Chernivtsi regions, and the railway in the Zhytomyr region. Damage has been reported in the Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, and Cherkasy regions,” Zelenskyy wrote on US social media platform X.

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Russia carried out the fifth massive missile and drone attack on the country’s energy facilities since the beginning of the year, causing power outages in seven regions: Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava and Kharkiv.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that the attack disrupted heat supply in the capital, leaving 2,700 homes without heating.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 124 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones).

Samara Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Russian social media platform Max that one person was injured by a drone crash in the region.

Independent verification of claims from both Russia and Ukraine remains difficult due to the ongoing conflict.