A fiery night of intense Russian bombing across Ukraine saw at least 14 civilians, including two children, killed in the aftermath.
The city of Kharkiv was badly hit, with a ballistic missile striking a five-story residential building.
At least 11 people were killed in that attack, including a teacher and her 9-year-old son, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Another 15 people were wounded.
Footage of the attack shows the top two floors of the apartment burnt out and crumbling, as firefighters battle an intense fire.
The Kremlin unleashed 480 drones and nearly 30 missiles across Ukraine overnight into Saturday, Ukraine’s Air Force reported.
“There must be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X. “Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure.”
The offensive comes as latest estimates show the Kremlin is facing staggering losses in the four-year war.
More than 1.2 million troops have been killed and over 161,000 drones and 81,000 vehicles and fuel tanks destroyed, according to March 7 damage assessments from Ukraine’s military intelligence service.
Meanwhile, Kyiv struck a manufacturing plant in the Russian-occupied Donestk region, used for the storage, preparation and launch of Shahed-type drones.
The war-torn country also reasserted control over more territory in February than Russia captured, marking Ukraine’s first net territorial gains since the Kursk offensive. Ukraine has retaken several settlements in southern regions, the armed forces said.
Ukrainian troops stopped Russian advances towards Zaporizhzhia — home to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe — as part of a three-month defensive operation in the country’s south.
In February, Zelensky claimed his forces had liberated more than 100 miles of Russian-occupied territory in a counteroffensive in the south of Ukraine.
