6 killed in Russian drone, missile attacks on Ukraine

Russia fired more than 620 drones and long-range missiles overnight, killing at least six people in the latest wave of strikes, Ukraine said on Saturday, calling for fresh sanctions on Moscow to halt its record barrages.

Moscow has stepped up aerial strikes over recent months and US-led ceasefire talks aimed at pausing the over three-year war have stalled.

“Twenty-six cruise missiles and 597 attack drones were launched, of which more than half were ‘Shaheds,’” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to Iranian-made drones.

The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 319 Shahed drones and 25 missiles, adding that one missile and about 20 drones hit “five locations.”

Zelensky said the strikes had killed at least two people and wounded 20 in the southwestern Chernivtsi region, far from the front lines of the east and south. Twelve people were wounded in Lviv, also in the west.

In the east, two people died in Dnipropetrovsk and three were wounded in Kharkiv, local authorities said.

Russia also “dropped two guided aerial bombs on the homes of civilians” in the northeastern Sumy region killing two, local prosecutor’s office said.

“As a result of the enemy attack, a 65-year-old man and his wife were killed. Fourteen residential buildings were destroyed and damaged,” it added.

The Russian defence ministry said it had targeted companies in Ukraine’s military-industrial complex in Lviv, Kharkiv and Lutsk and a military aerodrome.

US special envoy Keith Kellogg is due on Monday to begin his latest visit to Ukraine as a Washington-led peace effort flounders.

US President Donald Trump also said he would make a “major statement on Russia” on Monday.

On Friday, the Kremlin restated its opposition to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv’s allies had a plan “ready to go in the hours after a ceasefire.”

Trump called Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week but said afterwards there had been no progress towards ending the war.

The Kremlin said Putin would not give up on Russia’s war goals but would nonetheless continue to take part in negotiations.

Moscow says its aim in Ukraine is to get rid of the “root causes” of the conflict and has demanded that Kyiv give up its Nato ambitions.

In Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, a drone “hit the Belgorod Arena sports centre, where classes were taking place,” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Saturday, adding there were no casualties.

He said a man died after a separate strike hit a house in the city of Shebekino.

Belgorod region, a border province which adjoins Ukraine’s Sumy, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, has come under regular attack from Kyiv’s forces since Russia ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Strikes on the region have diminished in recent months, as Russia has intensified its attacks on neighbouring Ukrainian regions.

Washington’s announcement earlier this month that it would pause some armament deliveries to Ukraine was a blow to Kyiv, which is reliant on Western military support.

On Saturday, Zelensky urged his Western allies to send “more than just signals” to stop the war launched by Russia in February 2022.

“The pace of Russian air strikes requires swift decisions and it can be curbed right now through sanctions,” he said on social media.

Zelensky specifically demanded penalties for those who “help Russia produce drones and profit from oil.” Oil exports are important for the Russian economy especially in the face of existing Western sanctions.

Sanctions imposed on Russia -- the world’s largest fertiliser producer -- after the invasion spared its grain and fertiliser exports.

But prices skyrocketed, fuelling fears of food insecurity.

The United Nations signed a deal with Russia in July 2022 to facilitate exports of food and fertiliser to limit global price increases.

But on Friday, it said the accord would not be renewed when it expires on July 22.

Russia has repeatedly complained the agreement does little to protect it from secondary sanction effects.

Agencies