Overnight Russian air attacks killed at least five people in northeast Ukraine on Thursday and caused fresh damage to energy infrastructure, officials said.
Moscow has stepped up its aerial bombardment of Ukraine recently, cutting electricity to thousands of people as it repeatedly strikes the power grid.
Drone attacks on Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv killed four people, including three rescuers responding to an earlier strike, mayor Igor Terekhov said.
The killed rescuers were 52, 32, and 41 years old, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said, while police identified the fourth victim as a 68-year-old woman.
“The Kharkiv rescuers were cynically killed by Russia today. Targeted. A repeated blow when they were saving people. At least 12 others were injured,” he said.
Russia launched a total of 20 Iranian-designed “Shahed” drones at the northeastern region overnight, of which 11 were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said.
Moscow also targeted power infrastructure, killing a 47-year-old energy worker in an aerial bomb attack on the neighbouring Sumy region, the energy ministry said.
Ukrainian officials have urged the country’s allies to supply more anti-aircraft defence systems, in particular modern US-made Patriot systems.
US military aid to Ukraine has been drying up, with a $60-billion funding package currently stalled in Congress and frontline troops facing critical shortages.
Russia also accused Ukraine of striking civilians in occupied areas.
Ukrainian drones killed two people in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Moscow-installed official Andrey Alekseyenko said.
Russian state media said Ukrainian shelling killed a man in the eastern Donetsk region.
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