Two people have died in a missile attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, local officials said, as Moscow and Kyiv exchanged drone and missile strikes.
The Ukrainian air force said on Sunday it shot down 10 of the 14 drones and one of the three missiles Russia launched overnight.
Oleh Kiper, Odesa’s regional governor, said the pair who died in the suburbs of Odesa on Saturday night were a married couple, and another person was injured in the attack.
A further 28 people were injured on Sunday afternoon when a Russian aerial bomb struck a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said it downed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday over western and south-western regions, with no damage caused by the falling debris.
It also said another Ukrainian drone was shot down on Sunday morning over the western Ryazan region.
While Ukraine and Russia regularly launch overnight drone raids on each other’s territory, Ukrainian officials generally do not confirm or deny attacks within Russia’s borders.
The latest attacks came after Ukraine made a new call on Saturday on the West to allow it to use the long-range missiles they have provided to strike targets deep inside Russia, as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.
So far, the US has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Kyiv officials argue the weapons are vital to weaken Russia’s ability to strike Ukraine and force it to move its strike capabilities further from the border.
