11 dead in Russian attacks on Ukraine. Residential building destroyed

Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine killed at least 11 people on Saturday, while rescue workers dug through the rubble in the city of Dnipro after a Russian attack destroyed a nine-story residential building and killed one person, officials said.

The attacks came as Russia continues to expand its Ukrainian troops in several areas along the 600-mile front. Moscow has stepped up its airstrikes to deplete Ukraine’s resources, often targeting energy facilities and other vital infrastructure.

Five people were also injured in the shelling of the frontline village of Niu-York in the Donetsk region, said Governor Vadym Filashkin. He said Russian forces had shelled populated areas 13 times within 24 hours.

Seven more people were killed in Russian artillery shelling of the city of Vilnius on Saturday afternoon, including two children, said Governor Ivan Fedorov. Ten others were injured and infrastructure was damaged, he wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, in Dnipro, at least one person died and 12 were injured, including a seven-month-old girl, after a Russian attack destroyed the top four floors of the apartment building on Friday evening, regional chief Serhii Lysak said. Rescue workers confirmed that several residents were still missing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack on Dnipro was a reminder to Ukraine’s allies that the country needs more air defense systems. The Ukrainian Air Force said on Saturday it had shot down 10 Russian drones overnight.

“That is why we constantly remind all our partners: only a sufficient number of high-quality air defense systems, only a sufficient level of determination on the part of the world as a whole can stop Russian terror,” he said.

Russian authorities also reported attacks from Ukraine. Local authorities said five people were killed in a drone attack in the Russian region of Kursk on Saturday.

At least five people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Kursk region on Saturday, local authorities said. Two children were among the victims of the attack in the village of Gorodishche on the Russian-Ukrainian border, Governor Alexey Smirnov said on social media.

In its morning statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said that six Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight over the Russian regions of Tver, Bryansk and Belgorod, as well as over the Crimean peninsula. The peninsula was illegally annexed by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014. The ministry did not provide any information on the reported attack in the Kursk region.

The Ukrainian government also responded on Saturday to a statement by the Belarusian military that it had reinforced its troops along Ukraine’s northern border to respond to security threats. The announcement came after the Belarusian border agency claimed its troops had shot down a Ukrainian drone that had flown over the border to gather intelligence.

Kiev denied the allegations and called them Russian propaganda.

“The Russians’ task is simple: to bring more of our forces to the Belarusian border,” said a statement from the Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation. “Any information about our activities in the border area is a lie.”

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko maintains close ties with Russia and allowed Moscow to use his country’s territory to launch a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.