At least 18 civilians killed in Russian strikes across Ukraine
At least 18 civilians have been killed and almost 200 others injured in Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks guarantees of further Western help for his country's efforts to repel Russian forces.
A Russian ballistic missile attack on Dnipro hit multiple civilian sites in the central Ukrainian city around midday on Tuesday, killing nine people and injuring at least 164 others, officials said.
In the nearby town of Samar, an attack killed two people and injured 11, Dnipro's regional administration head Serhii Lysak wrote on Telegram.
The barrage damaged 19 schools, 10 kindergartens, a vocational school, a music school and a social welfare office, as well as eight medical facilities, according to Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov.
One of the blasts blew out the windows of a passenger train carrying around 500 people.
Russia also shelled residential neighbourhoods and critical infrastructure across Ukraine's southern Kherson region, killing four civilians and wounding at least eleven others, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration.
In the Sumy region of north-eastern Ukraine, a drone attack late Monday killed three civilians, including a 5-year-old boy, and injured six others, local authorities said.
Among the injured were two 17-year-old girls and a 12-year-old boy, according to officials.
Russian forces have relentlessly targeted civilian areas of Ukraine throughout the war, which is now in its fourth year.
More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to the United Nations.
Ukraine has also launched long-range drones against Russia, hitting residential areas.
Zelenskyy met with Western leaders attending a NATO summit in The Hague earlier on Tuesday.
He is keen to lock in additional military support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's bigger army, as recent direct peace talks have delivered no tangible progress on a possible settlement.
Key US military commitments to Ukraine left over from the Biden administration are expected to run out within months, according to analysts, and there is uncertainty over whether President Donald Trump is willing to provide more.
In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Russia requires foreign components to build its ballistic missiles and urged countries to deny the Kremlin access to them by cracking down on Russian "schemes" to obtain them.
"Sanctions against Russia must also be significantly strengthened," he said.
Russian air defence forces shot down 20 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian Defence Ministry reported on Tuesday morning.
It said 14 were downed over the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, while two had been flying over the Moscow province.
One drone slammed into a tower block on the outskirts of the Russian capital, sparking a fire on its 17th floor, local Governor Andrei Vorobyov said.
He said a 34-year-old resident suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and leg. Two other drones were shot down on the approach to Moscow, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Air traffic was briefly halted as a precaution at two major Moscow airports, Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo, a representative of Russia's aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said.
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