Ukraine and Russia Continue Trading Attacks, 19 Killed

Ukraine and Russia continue to trade attacks. Air strikes killed 19 people in Russia and Ukraine, as waves of drones and missiles struck civilian infrastructure in both countries.

In Russia, a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks killed five people in residential areas of the Rostov region in southern Russia, regional governor Yuri Slusar said. Three more people were killed in the Belgorod, Kursk, and Moscow regions, along with four others in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

Moscow region governor Andrey Vorobyov described the attack as “one of the largest drone attacks in recent times”. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had intercepted 822 drones across the country overnight on Sunday.

In Ukraine, a barrage of Russian drones and missiles killed two people and wounded 14 at the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The plant, one of Ukraine’s largest steel producers, said it had partially halted operations after the attack damaged its core production facilities.

Another strike hit Kryvyi Rih on Sunday night, killing one person. Strikes also hit other regions, killing two people in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, one in the border region of Sumy, and one more in Donetsk in the east.

In Kyiv, the capital, a popular open-air book market in Pochaina, long a place to find rare and antique books, was hit. Bookseller Dmytro Semenukha watched his four stalls burn to the ground. “There used to be a shop. And books, and flags from all countries, all countries. So many. And that’s it,” the 45-year-old told AFP.

In a social media post about the overnight attack, Zelensky said that “wherever Russia can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure”. Over the past week, he said, Ukrainian cities had been hit by “more than 1,550 attack drones, almost 1,560 guided aerial bombs, and 62 missiles”. Zelensky repeated his call for allies to strengthen air defences.