7 dead as Russia, Ukraine exchange strikes and aerial war intensifies

KYIV – Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine Saturday, officials said, as the aerial war between Moscow and Kyiv intensifies.

Russia has hammered Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, powerful glide bombs and jet-powered drones while front-line progress has slowed, some 4½-years after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

“It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day. If the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday morning.

He listed “numerous strikes on residential homes” in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, and the Odesa, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions.

Two women in Zaporizhzhia died when they were trapped beneath the rubble of their destroyed home, Zaporizhzhia’s regional military administration said. A separate Russian attack on the city of Sumy also killed two people, local officials said.

Ukrainian drones target Russian refineries

Zelenskyy appealed at the United Nations earlier this week to countries to starve Russia of revenue through sanctions and trade bans, denying Moscow the money it needs to prolong the war. But despite years of diplomatic efforts, there is no sign of a breakthrough in ending the war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s long-range drones have targeted Russian oil refineries and businesses. A Ukrainian drone attack on the southern Krasnodar region killed three people and wounded two, local officials said Saturday.

Writing on Telegram, regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said that a Ukrainian attack sparked fires at two industrial sites, but did not give further details. Russian media outlets later reported that a local oil refinery was targeted in the strike.

Russian attacks spark fires in Kyiv

Elsewhere in Ukraine, two people were injured in the Kyiv region overnight after a Russian drone attack caused a fire at a warehouse in the Boryspil district. Russian drones also hit several districts in the Ukrainian capital itself, injuring four and damaging residential and office buildings, officials said.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said Saturday that its attack on Kyiv had damaged a data center that supported both cellphone internet services and Starlink satellite communication systems.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine