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Russian strikes on Ukraine kill 12, wound over 80 overnight

Russian airstrikes across Ukraine have killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more in multiple drone and missile attacks overnight, according to local authorities.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched six missiles and 151 attack drones throughout Friday night, hitting 12 locations. Ukrainian authorities managed to down 135 drones.

The attacks came as Ukraine continues to urge Western allies to provide more air defense systems and interceptor missiles.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the drone attacks killed three people — a 3-year-old child and the child’s grandparents — in a village in the Kyiv region. The six ballistic missiles struck civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, killing one person, he said.

“More pressure is needed. New sanctions that will prevent the production of these ballistic missiles,” Zelenskyy said on X. “And we definitely need more protection for our people,” he added, appealing to allies to provide missile interceptors to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s aerial assault.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, in southeast Ukraine, three people were killed and four were wounded following the overnight attack, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.

A further five people were killed and nearly 50 people wounded in the regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson, according to regional authorities.

Separately, Zelenskyy visited Serbia on Saturday — his first trip to the country since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — to meet with President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Đuro Macut.

Zelenskyy said the talks had focused on rebuilding infrastructure, readying a free-trade agreement this year, and preparing for the winter to come.

This article has been updated.

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EU adds 5 people to Russia sanctions list after latest deadly attacks on Ukraine

The EU has added five individuals to its Russia sanctions list. The move was driven by Moscow’s “intensified strikes deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine, according to a press release.

The press release does not refer to a specific attack, but earlier this week Russia carried out one of its deadliest barrages on the Ukrainian capital, killing 17. In July, a similar attack in Kyiv killed 12.

Among those included in the new sanctions is Ramil Badgutdinov — the head of a company that helps produce the Iskander-M ballistic missiles — and Aleksandr Dyukarev, head of the KrasMash plant that produces Sarmat ballistic missiles. Russia has not yet used Sarmat missiles in Ukraine, but Moscow has been testing them.

The remaining individuals are directors of Russian defense companies involved in communications systems and “the development of software for unmanned aerial vehicles and space-related military technologies,” reads the press release.

“With its army stalled on the battlefield, Moscow is further escalating its campaign of terror against civilians,” wrote EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on X. “The EU must continue to intensify pressure on Russia until Moscow ends its war.”

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