Russia strikes kill nine in Ukraine

Russian strikes killed nine people across Ukraine on Tuesday, including six in the central Dnipropetrovsk region that borders the front line, local authorities said.

Moscow and Kyiv have intensified attacks in recent weeks, as US-led talks on ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II remain effectively frozen.

In Kryvyi Rig, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, “two men aged 25 and 34 and a 54-year-old woman were killed,” said Dnipropetrovsk region governor Oleksandr Ganzha.

Ganzha posted images showing the site of the strike, with smoldering rubble and the charred shell of a destroyed building.

Separate Russian attacks on the region killed three others, while strikes on the southern regions of Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson killed one person each, regional authorities said.

Russia launched 135 drones at Ukraine overnight, 118 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said.

Russia has pummeled Ukraine with near-daily air barrages of drones and missiles throughout its invasion, now in its fifth year.

Ukraine has stepped up its own strikes, frequently hitting oil depots and refineries in Russia that it says are used to fund the war.