At least eight people were killed and 60 wounded across Ukraine in devastating attacks overnight, as the war-torn country faced one of Russia’s largest bombing campaigns of the war.
Russian forces fired 47 missiles and 619 drones — including about 400 Shahed-type “kamikaze” drones,Ukraine’s Air Force said.
The strikes caused “considerable destruction” on the frontline city of Dnipro, where 27 houses, two kindergartens and a medical clinic were destroyed, Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov said.
Explosions were first heard around 3:30 a.m. local time, and the barraged lasted “for more than 10 hours,” according to Dnipro Gov. Oleksandr Hanzha.
Roofs of apartment buildings collapsed from the deafening blasts, entire floors were ripped to pieces and nearly 1,500 windows were left shattered, according to local officials.
As firefighters pulled four dead bodies from under the rubble, the city was hit by a double-tap strike, killing a fifth person during the daytime hours.
Two police officers were among those injured in the second strike, and the deputy mayor, other city officials and first responders were “almost killed,” according to Filatov.
“They purposefully shell civilian objects, and then, when emergency responders, utility workers, police, and doctors begin to work on the spot, they repeat the strike,” he wrote on Telegram.
“This is a disgusting and absolutely vile war crime, which does not and cannot be forgiven.”
More than 46 people were injured in Dnipro, including five children. Dozens were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, fractures and burns.
Odesa and Kharkiv were also targeted in a massive drone attack which lasted practically all night.
Russian drone fragments fell on neighboring Romania, damaging part of a house and an electric pole — and enraging the NATO country’s foreign ministry, which said it had summoned the Russian ambassador in protest.
“These actions represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the Black Sea area,” the Romanian defence ministry said in a statement Saturday.
“Such incidents demonstrate the Russian Federation’s lack of respect for the norms of international law and endanger not only the safety of Romanian citizens, but also the collective security of NATO.”
Meanwhile Ukrainian armed forces released battlefield estimates on Saturday, claiming 1.3 million Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the war.
That includes 1,230 casualties over the past day, it reported.
The Ukrainian military has never revealed its own losses, but international think-tanks believe Russian casualties significantly surpass Ukraine’s — with the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies putting the ratio at roughly 2 to 1.
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