Russia, Ukraine exchange deadly strikes after devastating Kyiv assault

At least 15 people were killed in fresh Russian and Ukrainian attacks on Friday, according to officials from both countries, as hostilities intensified a day after Moscow carried out one of its deadliest air assaults on Kyiv since the start of the war.

Authorities installed by Russia in the occupied part of Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region said a Ukrainian strike on a local market killed five civilians. Kremlin-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky accused Kyiv of targeting civilians, saying the victims had been shopping when the attack occurred.

Balitsky also reported three additional deaths in separate strikes elsewhere in the occupied region.

In Russia, regional authorities said one person was killed in the Belgorod region and another in neighbouring Bryansk, both of which border Ukraine and have frequently come under cross-border attacks.

Ukraine, meanwhile, reported civilian casualties from overnight Russian strikes in multiple regions.

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In the northeastern Sumy region, officials said a Russian attack hit a residential area, igniting a house and killing four people, including a girl who was less than two years old. Three others were injured in the strike.

Regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said the victims included the child's mother, another woman and an elderly man.

Another Russian strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region killed one person and injured five others, according to regional authorities.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched two missiles and 105 drones overnight in the latest wave of aerial attacks.

Russia's Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 155 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and the annexed Crimea peninsula during the same period.

The latest violence came less than 24 hours after Russia launched a massive missile and drone barrage on Kyiv that killed at least 30 people, making it one of the deadliest attacks on the Ukrainian capital since Moscow's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

The renewed exchange of strikes underscored the continuing intensity of the conflict, with both sides reporting civilian casualties and large-scale aerial attacks despite repeated international calls for de-escalation.

With inputs from agencies