Two dead in night attacks on Ukraine

At least two people were killed and four injured in a Russian air strike on the north-eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv overnight, the regional prosecutor said on Saturday.

“At about 3:15 a.m. the enemy launched a rocket attack on the town of Barvinkove in the Izyum district,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

The prosecutor said two men, aged 48 and 69, were killed and around 50 buildings were damaged in the bombardment, apparently by three Russian Iskander missiles.

Another attack hit a farm in the village of Oleksiivka, it was said, but no casualties were reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling on his country’s allies to strengthen their air defenses in order to intercept the Russian missiles and drones that have been raining down on the country every day for nearly 30 months of conflict.

The death toll in a Russian attack on a playground in the southern Russian city of Mykolaiv on Friday has risen to four, including a child, and 24 were injured, local mayor Oleksander Senkevitch posted on Telegram.