Seven dead and dozens injured after missiles hit town in southern Ukraine, officials say

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles struck a city in southern Ukraine, killing seven civilians, including children, and wounding dozens of others, local authorities said.

Ukrainian authorities published photos of bodies lying under picnic blankets in a park in Vilniansk, and deep craters in the blackened earth next to the charred and twisted remains of a building.

Thirty-six people were injured in Saturday night’s attack, authorities said, and they declared a day of mourning on Sunday. Vilniansk is in the Zaporizhzhia region, less than 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the local capital and north of the front lines, while Russian forces continue to occupy part of the province.

Local governor Ivan Fedorov said three children were among the dead and nine more were injured.

In a separate Telegram post hours earlier, Fedorov said the attack damaged a store, residential buildings and an unspecified “critical infrastructure” facility in Vilniansk, which had a population of about 14,300 before Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine. in February 2022.

Russia continues to extend Ukrainian forces in several areas along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front. Moscow has stepped up airstrikes in an attempt to drain Ukraine of resources, often targeting energy facilities and other vital infrastructure.

In the aftermath of the Vilniansk attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Kiev’s Western partners to reinforce their air defenses and long-range munitions to deter Russian attacks.

In the war-torn eastern Donetsk region, eight civilians were killed and 14 others injured on Saturday and overnight, according to local governor Vadym Filashkin, as almost daily shelling continues across much of the province. The bombings also killed one civilian and injured five others in the same period in the southern region of Kherson, its governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram.

According to local governor Oleh Syniehubov, four people were injured in the northeastern province of Kharkiv, the site of fierce battles in recent months as Russia launched a cross-border offensive that threatened Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces shot down three dozen Ukrainian drones overnight in six regions in southwestern Russia.

Debris from a drone fell on a village in the Kursk region, blowing out windows and damaging roofs and fences, according to a Telegram post by regional governor Aleksey Smirnov. In the northern city of Lipetsk, a drone was shot down when it appeared to be targeting the industrial zone, local governor Igor Artamonov said. There were no victims in either case.