Seven people were killed in Russian and Ukrainian strikes Saturday, including four in Ukraine and three in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, local officials said, as Moscow and Kyiv continued a surge in long-range drone and missile attacks.
Russia has intensified its aerial campaign against Ukraine, deploying cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs and jet-powered drones as fighting along the front line has slowed more than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.
Two women were killed after a Russian strike destroyed a home in Zaporizhzhia, trapping them beneath the rubble, according to the regional military administration. A separate Russian attack on the city of Sumy killed two people, local officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Russia was escalating its attacks and urged Kyiv's international partners to respond with stronger measures.
"It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day," Zelenskyy wrote Saturday. "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."
Zelenskyy said residential areas in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, as well as parts of the Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv regions, had come under attack.
Ukraine's Air Force said its air defenses shot down 134 of 173 Russian drones launched overnight. The claim could not be independently verified.
In Kyiv, officials reported damage across several districts after Russian drones struck overnight. A drone hit an area between a five-story residential building and a commercial property in the Solomianskyi district, damaging an office building, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said five people were injured and that emergency crews were carrying out search and rescue operations. Fires were also reported near warehouses in the Darnytskyi district and at a store after a drone fell inside a shopping center in the Sviatoshynskyi district.
Two people were injured in the wider Kyiv region after a Russian drone attack caused a fire at a warehouse in the Boryspil district, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.
In Odesa region, Gov. Oleh Kiper described the overnight assault as a "massive" attack on civilian infrastructure. More than 10 private and apartment buildings were damaged, along with a hotel and restaurant complex and administrative buildings at a business facility, he said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its strikes in Kyiv damaged a data center that it claimed supported mobile internet services and Starlink satellite communications used by Ukraine's armed forces. The claim could not be independently verified.
Moscow also said its forces struck a port facility, road bridge and logistics center in the Odesa region and a dry-cargo vessel in the Black Sea that it alleged was carrying military supplies.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has continued using long-range drones to target Russian oil and industrial infrastructure, seeking to disrupt revenue streams and supplies that support Moscow's war effort.
A Ukrainian drone attack in Russia's southern Krasnodar region killed three people and injured two others, regional officials said.
Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said the attack damaged a residential building and sparked fires at two industrial facilities in the Seversky district.
The regional emergency headquarters later said the fires had been extinguished and that about 26,000 residents were without electricity.
Ukraine's General Staff said its forces had targeted the Ilsky oil refinery in the Seversky district. Russian officials did not confirm the facility had been hit, and the claim could not be independently verified.
In neighboring Rostov region, Gov. Yury Slyusar said five people were injured in overnight Ukrainian drone attacks, including a child. He said drones struck residential buildings in Taganrog and Azov and that air defenses had downed more than 30 drones over several parts of the region.
Falling drone debris damaged apartment buildings, private homes, industrial facilities, a school, a cultural center and vehicles in Azov, according to Slyusar.
Russia's Defense Ministry separately claimed that its air defenses had destroyed 645 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions, as well as over the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and Crimea. The figure could not be independently verified.
The latest attacks underscore the continuing expansion of the war's aerial dimension, with both sides increasingly relying on long-range drones to strike targets far from the front lines.
Ukraine has sought tougher sanctions against Moscow and restrictions on trade that it says could reduce Russia's ability to finance the war. Zelenskyy renewed that appeal after the latest strikes, calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to implement additional measures against Russia and urging European leaders to impose further sanctions.
Despite repeated diplomatic efforts, there has been no confirmed breakthrough toward ending the war. Both Moscow and Kyiv deny deliberately targeting civilians and say their attacks are directed at military targets or infrastructure connected to military operations.
Independent verification of battlefield and casualty claims remains difficult because of the ongoing fighting.
