Russian missiles struck a high-rise apartment block in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, killing two people and injuring 13 others overnight, regional authorities reported Sunday.
The strike hit the Saltivskyi district of the city, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov. Eight more people were injured in the Black Sea port city of Odesa after what local administration head Oleh Kiper described as "dozens of missiles and drones" hitting the city and surrounding region.
According to ABC News, large-scale Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have become almost routine in recent weeks. Moscow has been exploiting Ukraine's critical shortage of interceptors for U.S.-made Patriot systems, the only air defense weapon in Ukraine's arsenal capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.
Russia's defense ministry claimed its overnight strikes hit drone warehouses in the Kharkiv region, as well as fuel depots and military stores at the port of Odesa. It said its forces shot down 153 Ukrainian drones during the night, including over Russian-occupied Crimea and across the Black and Azov seas.
On the other side of the front, Ukrainian drone strikes killed five people and injured approximately two dozen others in Russia's border region of Belgorod, including a 4-year-old boy, according to the regional administration. Authorities in Belgorod said the strikes damaged 29 apartment blocks and five private houses, along with administrative buildings and commercial facilities.
Debris from Ukrainian drones also fell on two enterprises and a private home in the Russian city of Novorossiysk, according to mayor Andrey Kravchenko. Regional authorities said one person was injured there. A major fuel terminal located at Novorossiysk links Kazakhstan's oil fields to global markets and has previously been targeted by Ukrainian strikes.
Ukraine has continued long-range drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, as well as the country's largest online retailer, Wildberries, and other targets deep inside Russia. Those strikes have contributed to a fuel crisis inside Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lobbied for months for additional Patriot systems from the United States and other countries, arguing they are essential for protecting civilians. The shortage has been worsened by competing demands stemming from the Iran war. Zelenskyy has also requested permission from Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia targeting missile launchers. Bulgaria separately summoned Ukraine's ambassador after a drone entered Bulgarian airspace during the overnight exchange.
