Russian strikes on Kyiv and the wider capital region killed four people, including a young child, local authorities reported Saturday, as Ukraine carried out another attack on an oil refinery inside Russia.
For civilians in and around Kyiv, drone and missile assaults have become a grim routine as Ukraine’s strained air defenses work to fend off Moscow’s full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year. At the same time, Ukraine’s repeated strikes on Russian oil infrastructure have disrupted fuel supplies and unsettled communities across Russia.
Grandparents and grandson killed in Ukraine’s Kyiv region
In the Brovary district, northeast of Kyiv, officials said several Russian drones slammed into a family home early Saturday, killing two grandparents and their 3-year-old grandson.
Three other relatives were taken to the hospital, along with a neighbor who had rushed in to help, authorities said. The strike left the home in ruins and damaged nearby outbuildings and vehicles.
Inside Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least one additional person was killed in what he described as an attack on civilian infrastructure involving six ballistic missiles.
Ukraine’s air force said in its daily update that air defenses shot down or intercepted 135 of the 151 drones Russia launched overnight. Officials said the barrage also included six ballistic missiles and additional guided missiles.
Russia has continued to strike populated areas across Ukraine, despite the Kremlin’s repeated claim that its military targets only Ukrainian military sites.
Moscow is also taking advantage of Ukraine’s severe shortage of interceptor missiles for its US-made Patriot air defense systems, the only weapons in Kyiv’s arsenal capable of bringing down ballistic missiles.
Zelensky has pleaded with other countries, especially the US, to send more of the ammunition made scarcer by the Iran war.
Failing that, he wants to make Patriot ammunition in Ukraine or win permission from Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia that can hit its missile launchers.
Following the latest attacks, Zelensky appealed on X for more sanctions to “prevent the production of these ballistic missiles,” along with “anti-ballistic capabilities” and “interceptor missiles.”
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down around 5,300 drones and missiles last month, Ukraine’s defense ministry said Friday, just under 60% of the around 9,000 attack drones and missiles Russia fired in the same period.
Ukraine strikes a Russian oil facility
In Russia, five people were wounded when a fire broke out at the Ilsky Oil Refinery in the southern Krasnodar region due to debris from a falling drone, local officials said.
Ukraine’s almost daily long-range drone and missile strikes using domestically developed weapons have battered Russian oil facilities for months. The operation has brought a fuel crisis that is embarrassing the Kremlin.
Zelensky in Serbia for talks
The latest attacks came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Friday for his first official visit to Serbia, one of the few European countries that have maintained friendly relations with Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine.
“Important talks are scheduled for today and tomorrow,” Zelensky said Friday. He added that he will meet with Vucic and Serbia’s Prime Minister Djuro Macut.
“We will discuss expanding economic ties between our countries, relations with the European Union, and other areas where we can find practical opportunities that benefit our peoples, as well as security issues,” Zelensky said.
