Russian officials in the Ukrainian regions partially controlled by Moscow, Kherson and Luhansk said at least 28 people were killed as a result of the Kiev strikes, as Russia and Ukraine continued mutual drone attacks on Saturday.
A Ukrainian attack on Friday in the small town of Sadove in Kherson killed 22 people and wounded 15 others, announced Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-appointed governor of the region.
Russian state news agency Tass quoted Mr Saldo as saying that Ukrainian forces first hit the city with French-made shells and then attacked again with the US-supplied HIMARS missile system.
The state-run Interfax news agency quoted Russian authorities as saying in the partially occupied Luhansk region that six people died as a result of a series of rocket attacks from Ukraine. The Moscow-appointed governor of the region, Leonid Pasechnik, said 60 people were injured.
Ukraine did not comment on the attacks.
Meanwhile, mutual drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine continued.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today that Ukraine launched a series of drones overnight Friday over the entire Russian territory.
25 drones were reported destroyed in Russia’s Kuban and Astrakhan regions and in Moscow-annexed Crimea.
On Saturday morning, Russian authorities announced for the first time that they shot down a Ukrainian drone over the region of North Ossetia in the North Caucasus, about 900 kilometers from the front line in the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, which is partially occupied by Russians.
Ukrainian air defense forces announced that they shot down 9 out of 13 drones launched by Russian forces in Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovs and Kharkiv regions.
The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said that the drone attacks damaged residential buildings and commercial facilities./VOA/
