Russian strikes killed two people and injured several others across Ukraine on Friday, officials said, as Kyiv struggled to defend against intensifying Russian attacks that have claimed more than 50 lives over the past three days.
One man was killed and five people were injured in Russian strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region on Friday morning, said Mykhailo Semikin, head of the regional military administration. The attacks hit residential areas, and a child was among the injured, he added.
In western Ukraine, another man was killed in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, according to Svitlana Onyshchuk, head of the regional military administration.
Russian forces also struck warehouse facilities in the Bucha district of the Kyiv region, injuring three people, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said in a Telegram post. Rescue workers were searching for a woman who might still be trapped under the rubble.
Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange long-range aerial attacks while fighting along the front line remains largely deadlocked, more than four and a half years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.
Elsewhere, a Ukrainian attack on Russia's eastern Belgorod region killed two people on Friday, the regional emergency headquarters said. Regional Governor Alexander Shuvayev reported that 12 people had been injured in Ukrainian strikes.
Zelenskyy seeks additional NATO support
Russian attacks using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones have killed dozens of civilians across Ukraine over the past three days.
On Thursday, a Russian guided bomb exploded near public buses carrying passengers in eastern Ukraine, killing 30 people. A day earlier, a Russian missile strike killed 22 people, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia could intensify its daily attacks as winter approaches. The bombardments threaten Ukraine's preparations for the colder months and target infrastructure vital to its war-damaged economy.
Recent Russian targets have included energy facilities, major industries, railway networks, post offices, shopping centres, telecommunications networks, fuel stations and grain exports.
Zelenskyy appealed to NATO members on Thursday for additional military assistance.
“It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages for Ukraine's defense,” he wrote in an online post.
He said supplies of anti-ballistic missile systems, ammunition for Ukrainian combat aircraft and investments in interceptor technology were helping save lives every day.
Ukraine needs ammunition for its US-made Patriot air defence systems to counter Russian ballistic missiles. It is also racing to develop a new generation of interceptors capable of bringing down Russia's high-flying, jet-powered drones.
Ukraine strikes Russian data centres
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a data centre operated by Russian technology giant Yandex, the company confirmed.
Several modules at the facility in Russia's Kaluga region were “completely disabled”, it said.
The incident marked the second time in two days that the company had been targeted. A Ukrainian drone attack on Thursday had already forced a data centre in Russia's western Ryazan region offline.
Kaluga Governor Vladislav Shapsha said nine people were injured in drone attacks on the region on Friday.
In another incident, Tver Governor Vitaly Korolyov said a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at a factory in Redkino. No casualties were reported.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defence systems intercepted 505 Ukrainian drones between late Thursday and early Friday.