Russian jet-powered drone attacks on Kyiv petrol stations have killed two people, as President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow’s escalating strikes were becoming “increasingly terrorist in nature”.
The victims were at one of two petrol stations hit in the Ukrainian capital, officials said. One of the attacks involved a double strike, while 12 people, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured.
The attacks followed what appeared to be the first Russian strike on a Kyiv petrol station the previous day. Russia has carried out almost continuous attacks on the capital with faster jet-powered drones for the past two weeks, disrupting daily life and killing a number of residents.
The strikes were briefly paused during a weekend visit to Kyiv by US peace negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, but resumed afterwards. “Russia’s escalation with jet-powered ‘shaheds’ is gradually becoming increasingly terrorist in nature,” Mr Zelensky said on X.
Further strikes reported across Ukraine
An overnight attack on a residential block in Kyiv injured eight people, while a woman was killed in the surrounding Kyiv region, according to local officials.
Mr Zelensky said a building used by Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, had also been hit. The company said its network continued to operate.
In the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, one person was killed and 19 injured in attacks, the regional governor said. All but one of those hurt were in the city of Dnipro. A further person was killed in a drone attack on Kharkiv, in north-eastern Ukraine.
The Moscow-installed head of Russian-controlled parts of the eastern Donetsk region said two employees of a local gas company had been killed in a drone strike.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war, which began with Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine carries out strikes inside Russia
Ukraine also launched drone attacks inside Russia overnight and on Friday. Two people were killed and three injured in the Tula region, according to its governor, while a 37-year-old man was killed in a strike in the Kursk region.
Russian online retailer Ozon said a drone caused a fire at its logistics hub in the central city of Saratov. Ukraine’s military said it had struck an oil refinery there.
Ukrainian forces have increasingly targeted Russian online retailers, oil refineries and fuel infrastructure, including sites deep inside Russia, as part of attacks on economic infrastructure supporting Moscow’s war effort.
Two people were also injured in a missile attack on two residential buildings and an industrial facility in Volgograd, local authorities said. They did not identify the industrial site.
