Russian missiles pounded areas across Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 10 civilians, including three children, according to local Ukrainian officials, strikes that came a day after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia killed three civilians.
According to The Associated Press, Oleksandr Hanzha, the head of the military administration in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, said six people were killed by Russian strikes in the region, including a 6-year-old girl and boys aged 11 and 17 near the city of Kryvyi Rih.
During the attack, Polish authorities said that an “unidentified object” crashed in an agricultural area, leaving a crater, but no casualties were reported. NATO said the object was a Russian missile, but it’s unclear if that’s been confirmed, and that NATO aircraft were scrambled during the violation of Poland’s airspace. Such incidents always risk a major escalation between NATO and Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces carried out a massive attack in seven Ukrainian regions, including the capital Kyiv, and claimed that it targeted airfields, military telecommunications, logistics centers, and facilities to produce weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces fired 70 missiles and about 280 drones into Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry also reported that another major Ukrainian drone swarm was launched into Russia, saying that 258 drones were shot down over multiple Russian regions and over the Black Sea. It said at least four people were injured by an attack on a warehouse in the Penza Oblast belonging to Wildberries, a Russian online retailer that’s been frequently targeted by Ukrainian drones in recent weeks.
Ukraine launched a similar number of drones into Ukraine on Wednesday, killing a civilian in Taganrog, southern Russia, and two in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Ukrainian officials also claimed oil refineries were hit. Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks are supported by US intelligence and also always risk an escalation between NATO and Russia.
Over the past several months, civilian casualties have spiked on both sides as Ukraine has dramatically increased its drone attacks and Russia has ramped up its ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine in response. While Ukraine has been conducting a significant number of long-range attacks on Russia, on the front lines, Russian forces still have momentum and continue to slowly make gains.
