At least 6 dead and thousands without power as Russia continues strikes on Ukraine

Kyiv, Ukraine. At least two people were killed and three more injured after a Russian missile attack targeted infrastructure in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials confirmed that the death toll after a Russian attack on Friday in the city of Mykolaiv, had risen to four. Among the victims was a child, said the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Writing about the attack on Mykolaiv on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a projectile had hit a children’s playground next to an apartment block.

“Russia demonstrates every day with its terror that ‘pressure’ is not enough,” he said. “This destruction of lives must stop. We need new solutions to support our defenses. “Russia must feel the power of the world.”

Ukraine’s air force said on Saturday that Russia had launched four missiles and 17 drones overnight, of which 13 had been shot down.

The attacks have left thousands of people without electricity or running water in the Poltava region of central Ukraine, Governor Filip Pronin said. Russia has continually attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing blackouts across the country.

A devastating Russian attack in recent months has forced kyiv troops to withdraw from some towns and villages of the eastern Donetsk region,

The latest targets are the mining town of Toretsk and the city of Pokrovsk, where Russia is stepping up its attacks. Ukrainian forces repelled 20 and 27 attacks in those areas respectively over 24 hours, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Friday. That was almost double the number of attacks recorded at other hotspots along the front line, he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also announced Saturday that it had shot down 26 Ukrainian drones over the Rostov region of southern Russia, several hundred kilometers (miles) from the front line. Three more drones were destroyed over the Belgorod region, as well as one over the Smolensk region, he added. No victims were reported.