Kyiv: At least five people were killed and several others injured after Russia carried out strikes in Ukraine’s southeastern region on Monday.
The Russian air strikes, drone attacks, and shelling targeted infrastructure, residential buildings, and cars, it was reported. Apart from the five confirmed dead, fourteen were injured in attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia followed this up with an attack on the Odesa region that triggered power outages for over 1,000 customers. Both attacks were reported by Reuters, citing regional governors’ communications on Telegram channels.
There was escalation in the ongoing conflict since Saturday after Russian president Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal for a meeting.
Ukraine, on Saturday, fired hundreds of drones at Russia, leaving one person dead and an oil depot on fire on the final day of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, as reported by The Indian Express.
Russia also hit a nuclear fuel storage facility near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The fresh round of strikes by Russia came a day after UK prime minister Keir Starmer hosted Zelenskyy in London alongside French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Fredreich Merz.
It was discussed how to use the upcoming G7 summit at Evian, the next meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, and the NATO summit at Ankara to best coordinate further support for Ukraine
It has been reported that Zelenskyy and Starmer spoke on additional missiles for air defence systems and equipment to protect energy infrastructure and to help Kyiv prepare for winter.
German chancellor Merz had proposed giving Ukraine an interim “associate member” status in the European Union earlier in May. He argued that it would be instrumental in helping Zelenskiy sell any peace settlement to Ukrainians that does not involve NATO membership or Kyiv regaining territory lost to Russia.
The bloc needs to include Ukraine in its mutual assistance clause “in order to create a substantial security guarantee”, Merz insisted.
