6 dead as Russia, Ukraine target each other’s infrastructure

At least six people were killed and several others injured in overnight Russian and Ukrainian attacks, officials said Sunday, as both sides intensified long-range strikes targeting energy and transport infrastructure.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others, including a child, at the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. Residential homes, apartment buildings and an unspecified industrial facility were also damaged.

The Syzran refinery, owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft and located about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, has been repeatedly targeted by Kyiv as part of its campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure.

In a separate attack, authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region said a 13-year-old boy died in a hospital after being critically wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike on the town of Grayvoron.

Gov. Yuri Slyusar of Russia’s Rostov region also said a drone attack damaged an empty tanker in the Azov-Black Sea maritime canal. He said there was no risk of an oil spill.

In Ukraine, officials said Russian overnight strikes killed three people in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Another civilian was killed and two others were wounded in the southern city of Kherson, according to local authorities.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out overnight strikes using long-range precision weapons and attack drones against the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.

Moscow claimed the attacks targeted facilities used to unload and store military cargo and fuel, including logistics infrastructure at the Port of Odesa and fuel storage tanks at the Port of Chornomorsk.

The ministry also said two cargo ships, a ferry transporting military supplies and a patrol boat were hit in Chornomorsk.

Ukraine did not immediately comment on the specific claims.

Ukraine’s General Staff, meanwhile, said its forces struck the Syzran refinery, an oil-processing unit at the NOVATEK Ust-Luga complex, a fuel train, 10 tankers and four ferries operating in the Sea of Azov.

Neither side’s military claims could be independently verified.

Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities in recent months, part of what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described as a campaign of “long-range sanctions” aimed at undermining Russia’s war effort after Moscow rejected calls to end its invasion.

The sustained strikes on Russian fuel infrastructure have contributed to gasoline shortages and rationing in several regions, while Russia has intensified missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, continuing to target cities and critical infrastructure.

Earlier Saturday, Russian missile and drone attacks killed eight people and wounded dozens ⁠more, officials said.

They forced President Zelenskyy to call for diplomatic ⁠efforts to ensure Ukraine secured weapons more quickly, as it awaited supplies of air defense munitions amid a shortage that has left it exposed to Russian attacks.

Two glide bombs hit a crowded area in the northern city of Sumy, a frequent Russian target, killing five people and injuring 30, authorities said.

One bomb hit a bus stop and ⁠pictures showed a yellow bus with one of its sides ripped off. Other pictures posted online showed damage to apartment building facades.

In a border district of Sumy region, where the Kremlin wants to expand a buffer zone, a local official said a man was killed after stepping on an explosive device

Glide bombs also injured 10 in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor said.

Two people were killed and another wounded earlier in the day by a missile strike on the southern port city of Odesa.

Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address, said Ukraine needed its allies to ensure weapons supplies were provided more promptly.

“I am preparing changes in Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts. We need a new level of cooperation with our partners to ensure that agreements on arms supplies are fulfilled,” Zelenskyy said.

“Agreements reached by national leaders must be implemented much more quickly and completely.”

This, he said, applied to an agreement reached with U.S. President Donald Trump this ⁠week ⁠to grant Ukraine a licence to produce its own Patriot interceptor missiles.

DAILYSABAH