Four killed in Russian air attack on Ukraine

By Dan Peleschuk

KYIV, March 14 (Reuters) – Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight, killing four people and causing damage across five regions of the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

The main target was energy infrastructure outside the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, adding that residential buildings, schools and businesses were also damaged.

He said the Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions were also targeted in an attack that included around 430 drones and 68 missiles, most of which were downed by air defences.

Saturday’s strikes come as the spiraling Iran conflict has distracted international attention from a U.S.-backed peace push in the four-year war, which Kyiv says Moscow has no interest in ending.

“Russia will try to exploit the war in the Middle East to cause even greater destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine,” Zelenskiy wrote on X.

He repeated his call for Kyiv’s partners to boost production of critical air-defence weapons, stocks of which have been diminishing as the U.S. and its allies in the Gulf have fended off Iranian strikes.

‘NO WAY RUSSIA WILL STOP’

Russia’s winter attacks on Ukraine have left swathes of major cities without power or heating, part of a campaign to weaken resolve as Moscow’s troops press a battlefield offensive and demand Kyiv cede more territory in the east.

Ukraine’s forces have targeted Russian strategic infrastructure such as oil refineries, depots and terminals in long-range strikes.

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said on Saturday that consumers in six regions were without electricity after the overnight strikes and Russian shelling of frontline areas.

“There’s no way Russia will stop,” said local resident Natalia Fetko, 57, whose building was damaged in the strike. “Nothing is enough for them.”

All four deaths occurred in the Kyiv region, where 15 people were also wounded and damage recorded in four districts, according to regional military administrator Mykola Kalashnyk.

Saturday’s attack also prompted NATO member Poland to scramble jets to protect its airspace, but no violations were observed, Warsaw’s military said.

(Additional reporting by Yurii Kovalenko; Editing by Toby Chopra and Gareth Jones)