KYIV: A Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday hit a house in southern Russia, killing two children and injuring their parents, officials said, while a daytime ballistic missile attack by Russia killed two outside the capital Kyiv. "This morning, civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in the Yeysk district came under a drone attack," said Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Russia's southern Krasnodar region. "As a result of yet another vile and cynical strike... two children were killed, and two adults are in the hospital," he added.
A separate Ukrainian drone attack on the central region of Samara killed one person, the local governor said. Around lunchtime on Saturday, Russia fired ballistic missiles towards Kyiv, the Ukrainian air force said — killing two and wounding eight in the Boryspil district, on the eastern edge of the capital.
Overnight Russian attacks had already killed two — one in Kyiv and one in Zaporizhzhia, close to the front line. The strikes marked the latest escalation in the four-and-a-half-year conflict. The United Nations reported that the civilian death toll so far this year had risen to its highest level since the first months of the war. On Monday, Ukraine and its top European allies will host a virtual meeting to look at how to pressure Russia to end its war.
Diplomacy has stalled with the United States, which had brokered several rounds of direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow, distracted by its war on Iran and frustrated that the conflict has not been as easy to solve as President Donald Trump had once touted.
In President Volodymyr Zelensky's home city of Kryvyi Rig, four people were still missing after Russian drones smashed into a busy shopping centre on Friday afternoon, the regional governor said. Sixteen people have been confirmed killed and more than 100 wounded. The strike set the mall ablaze and sent blood-covered victims running for the streets, only for a second drone to fly in around half an hour later — a double-tap attack blasted by Zelensky as "cynical and despicable".
Mourners placed flowers and letters on the grass outside the mall in a makeshift memorial on Saturday. A reporter saw machinery piling up twisted and charred metal. Supermarket shelves stacked with products blackened from the fire were stacked up beneath a cratered ceiling and behind blown-out windows.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday announced Paris would deliver new interceptor missiles to Ukraine, with Kyiv's air defences running short after the latest round of deadly Russian attacks. "It is crucial to provide Ukraine with all the necessary means to defend its skies and thwart this aggression," Macron wrote on X, saying he had informed Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in a telephone call of "the strengthening of our support with the delivery of interceptors and the continuation of our cooperation".
Germany's foreign minister on Saturday sharply criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin for stepping up his "brutal war of aggression" in Ukraine and pledged more aid for Kyiv. Johann Wadephul's comments, during a visit to the Ukrainian capital, came a day after a Russian drone attack on a busy shopping centre in eastern Ukraine killed at least 16 people. "Russia's brutal war of aggression... has in no way abated," Wadephul told a press conference alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiga. "On the contrary, Putin has even increased the intensity of his war. He is deliberately terrorising civilians, attacking civilian infrastructure with rockets and swarms of drones."
Russia has intensified its bombardments of Ukrainian cities, with the UN reporting that the civilian death toll in 2026 has risen to its highest level since the first months of the war. "I want to emphasise once again here: the people of Ukraine have our full support. Germany stands behind Ukraine," Wadephul said.
He announced an additional 50 million euros in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, which will go to UN agencies and NGOs that focus on supporting people in areas close to the frontlines. Germany will also pay a further 10 million euros into a Nato fund that provides financing to bolster Ukraine's energy networks and systems for defending against drones, Wadephul said. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
