OMM Redaksiyası
Russia and Ukraine exchanged accusations on Wednesday after overnight strikes killed at least five people, including four in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and one in Russia’s Saratov region.
Kyiv’s City Military Administration said three people had died in Russian shelling, while rescue and cleanup operations continued in three districts. A fire at a high-rise building in the Desnianskyi district was extinguished, and 16 residents were rescued, it said.
Twenty-one people, including a child, were injured, according to the administration. It also reported that one person was killed and another injured in a strike on a non-residential building in the Holosiivskyi district.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said energy facilities in the capital and surrounding region had been hit by a “massive” ballistic missile strike, causing power outages. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said five people were injured when a drone struck a garage at a civilian business in Derhachi, in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Ukraine’s Air Force said it had shot down 115 of 128 drones and four of 39 missiles launched by Russia overnight in attacks targeting the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the scale of the attack as deliberate and said Russia had shown unprecedented disrespect toward the United States. In a statement on “X”, he said at least 600,000 people in Ukraine were without power and that strikes had significantly damaged 26 facilities in the country’s power system and four in the oil and gas sector.
Zelenskyy called for stronger sanctions against Russia and additional supplies of Patriot missile interceptors for Ukraine.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out a large strike on communications and energy infrastructure in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, alleging the facilities supported Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
The ministry also claimed that Russian air defences had downed 902 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, the Sea of Azov and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said air defences intercepted 493 Ukrainian drones heading toward the region between 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 7 a.m. on Wednesday, including 180 approaching the capital.
Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said one person was killed in the city of Balakovo and several residential buildings were damaged in a drone strike. He said infrastructure in the city was operating normally and that an operational headquarters had been set up to assist residents of affected buildings.
Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chief executive of Russian financial services company “Sberbank”, confirmed that its data centre in Balakovo had been attacked. He said the company’s systems and services remained operational without disruption.
The claims made by either side could not be independently verified. Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks in recent months, targeting logistics centres, ports and energy infrastructure. Both deny deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, saying their strikes are directed at military targets or facilities linked to military activity.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said on “Truth Social” that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an immediate halt to attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy told “Axios” earlier that day that Kyiv was ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and said any de-escalation should be reciprocal and supported by guarantees.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow had no immediate comment on the proposed halt, while contacts with the United States on the issue continued.
