Russian attacks kill 26 civilians in Ukraine as Zelensky seeks more western help

Russian drones, missiles and artillery have killed at least 26 civilians and injured more than 200 others in Ukraine, officials said.

The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought guarantees of further western help for his country’s efforts to repel Russia’s invasion.

Russian forces have relentlessly struck civilian areas throughout the three-year war.

More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to the United Nations. Ukraine has also launched long-range drones against Russia, hitting residential areas.

Mr Zelensky joined western leaders attending a Nato summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on Tuesday.

He is keen to lock in additional military support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s bigger army, as recent direct peace talks have delivered no progress on a possible settlement.

Key US military commitments to Ukraine left over from the Biden administration are expected to run out within months, according to analysts, and there is uncertainty over whether US President Donald Trump is willing to provide more.

A Russian ballistic missile attack on Dnipro hit multiple civilian sites in the central Ukrainian city around midday on Tuesday, killing 15 people and injuring more than 200 others, officials said.

“The number of casualties is constantly being updated,” Dnipro’s regional administration head, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.

In the nearby town of Samar, an attack killed two people and injured 14, he said.

Mr Zelensky, in a post on Telegram, said Russia requires foreign components to build its ballistic missiles and urged countries to deny the Kremlin access to them by cracking down on Russian “schemes” to obtain them.

“Sanctions against Russia must also be significantly strengthened,” he said.

Russia also shelled residential neighbourhoods and critical infrastructure across Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson, killing four civilians and wounding at least 11 others, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration.

In the Sumy region of north-eastern Ukraine, a drone attack late Monday killed three civilians, including a five-year-old boy, and injured six others, local authorities said.

Among the injured were two 17-year-old girls and a 12-year-old boy, according to officials.

Russian air defence forces overnight shot down 20 Ukrainian drones, the Russian Defence Ministry reported on Tuesday morning. It said 14 were downed over the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, while two had been flying over the Moscow province.

One drone slammed into a tower block on the outskirts of the Russian capital, sparking a fire on its 17th floor, local governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Tuesday. He said a 34-year-old resident suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and leg. Two other drones were shot down on the approach to Moscow, according to mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Air traffic was briefly halted as a precaution at two major Moscow airports, a representative of Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said.