Ten civilians killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine

A man cries next to the body of his relative
Russian attacks across Ukraine have killed 10 people and left dozens injured. -AP

Russian attacks across Ukraine have killed 10 people and wounded dozens, with strikes ‌continuing as the death toll climbs.

A missile attack in the southeastern ‌city of Dnipro on Monday killed six people and wounded 29, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram. A business, a school, private homes and cars had come under attack.

"Russia launched a missile strike on Dnipro, targeting infrastructure," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X.

"It is essential that Europe is as ‌active as possible ‌in developing its ⁠own anti-ballistic defence - its own systems and missiles," he said.

A ​Russian drone attack on a passenger minibus in Zaporizhzhia killed two men and a woman, and injured eight others, including a seven-year-old boy, regional officials said.

The regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, posted footage on Telegram of a white minibus, its floor bloodied and back doors damaged, with ⁠a body of a man inside.

Another attack ‌on ​the city in the afternoon hit a civilian van, Fedorov said, setting it on ​fire but ‌causing no casualties.

A glide bomb also hit the northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing a ​23-year-old woman and wounding 10 others, according to officials there.

That strike damaged a tram and more than 15 cars, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Another glide bomb ​flew ​in less than an hour later ​but failed to detonate.

Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, ‌three large industrial cities, have come under repeated Russian attacks during the war, now in its fifth year.

Meanwhile, Zelenskiy has mocked Russia's military drive, ‌saying the Kremlin had set and put off 15 deadlines to capture the ‌Donbas region.

Zelenskiy's comments amounted to a response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rejection a day earlier of what the Kremlin leader said ‌was a Ukrainian proposal to abandon long-range strikes and scale down the fighting.

He said Putin's comments showed he was out of touch with the feelings of Russians who faced queues at petrol stations, linked to a Ukrainian campaign of strikes on oil industry targets.

"Even an oil-producing state, a 'gas station' as Russia has often been called, is now facing fuel shortages," Zelenskiy ‌said in his nightly video ‌address.

"This is a ⁠direct consequence of the war. One of many consequences. It is also one ​example of how Ukraine responds - with precision, not through terrorism."

Zelenskiy explained at considerable length what he said had been 15 deadlines set - and later put back - by the Kremlin over the course of four years to capture four regions in eastern Ukraine - Donetsk and Luhansk in Donbas, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

"Russia's political leadership remains obsessed with Donbas," he said.

"If Russia does not end the war, ⁠it will have to postpone that deadline once again."

In the weeks following ‌the ​February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces initially tried to advance on the capital Kyiv, but when they failed to complete ​that advance they withdrew ‌and focused efforts on capturing Donbas.