Russian strikes pounded Ukrainian cities on Tuesday, killing at least 10 civilians, attacks that came a day after Ukrainian drones killed 13 civilians in the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk.
According to The Associated Press, three people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by drone and artillery attacks in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. A steel company in Zaporizhzhia said that seven of its workers were killed and 21 were injured by a Russian strike that hit one of its plants.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged that the strikes on Zaporizhzhia were carried out using missiles provided by North Korea, a claim that hasn’t been confirmed, and the Ukrainian air force reported something different, saying the city, as well as Kyiv, were targeted with Zircon anti-ship missiles and Iskander ballistic missiles.
Local officials said that one of the strikes in Kyiv hit the grounds of a children’s hospital. In its statement on the attacks, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it targeted “defense industry facilities and transport and logistics centers” in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia.
The Ukrainian air force said that on top of the missiles, Russia launched 120 drones across Ukraine. Ukrainian drones also targeted Russia on Tuesday, with the Russian Defense Ministry reporting that its forces intercepted nearly 400 over multiple Russian regions, and at least one Russian civilian was killed by an attack in the Voronezh Oblast.
A Russian Foreign Ministry official said that over the past week, Ukrainian drone attacks, which are backed by the US, killed 43 civilians in Russia, including four children. The rise in civilian casualties inside Russia has led to an escalation of Russian strikes inside Ukraine, resulting in more Ukrainian civilian casualties.
Russia has taken advantage of Ukraine’s depleted air defense, and Ukrainian officials have said that in some recent attacks, Ukraine’s military has failed to intercept a single missile. Russian forces also maintain momentum on the front lines, slowly making territorial gains.
