Russia kills 12 in Ukraine as Kyiv mourns 707 children killed since 2022

At least 12 people have been killed and dozens of others injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commemorated at least 707 children killed by Russia during the two countries’ more than four-year-long war.

At least five people were killed and 11 others injured in Russian bomb and drone attacks on eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the National Police of Ukraine’s press service said on Thursday.

“Seven settlements were under fire: the cities of Dobropillya, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, Mykolaivka, Sloviansk, the village of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, and the village of Kuritsyne. 42 civilian objects were destroyed, including 16 residential buildings,” the press service said in a message on Telegram.

The damage to civilian infrastructure was extensive, read the message, with at least 14 apartment buildings and 11 cars damaged as well as “a medical institution … an evacuation vehicle and an ambulance” also destroyed.

The next deadliest Russian attack took place in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. At least three people were killed and 21 others were injured in Russian missile and drone attacks in the region, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Also in northeastern Ukraine, at least two people were killed and four others injured in a Russian attack on the village of Yampil, in the Shostka district, according to Oleg Hrygorov, the head of the Sumy regional military administration.

“The enemy attacked the central part of the Yampil community … two people died as a result of the attack … Four injured women were also taken to hospital. They are being provided with the necessary medical assistance,” Hrygorov wrote on Telegram.

At least one person was killed and five others injured in Russian shelling in central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, said Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the region’s military administration.

“In the Nikopol region, the Nikopol, Marhanetska, Chervonogryhorivska, Pokrovska and Myrivska communities were under attack,” wrote Ganzha on Telegram, adding that the injured were in hospital receiving treatment.

Ganzha said that the Russian shelling caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure, with fires breaking out in Slobozhanske and Petrykivska.

“The fire that occurred in the building of a logistics company was extinguished,” he added.

Lastly, one person was killed by Russian shelling on the Komyshany settlement in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the local military administration.

Over 707 children killed

Russia’s latest attacks across Ukraine came as Zelenskyy commemorated International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression by remembering the children killed over the course of Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine, which began in February 2022.