International🌐 Available in EnglishAugust 16, 2026

Five killed as Russia launches fresh aerial attacks across Ukraine

Five killed as Russia launches fresh aerial attacks across Ukraine
BBC World
BBC World
BBC World
Original Source

Russian aerial strikes killed at least five people and wounded more than 10 across Ukraine, targeting civilian infrastructure in Kyiv including a book market, as Moscow claims to have intercepted 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. The escalating aerial campaign has left seven dead in Russia and damaged critical civilian facilities across 13 regions.

At least five people have been killed and more than 10 injured in Ukraine in the latest wave of Russian strikes, officials have said.

The attacks caused fires across the capital, Kyiv, including at a book market, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, accusing Russia of targeting civilian infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Moscow's mayor said about 600 Ukrainian drones were launched towards the city overnight. A warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries was hit. Seven people have died across Russia, officials said.

Russia has intensified aerial attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, while Kyiv has stepped up attacks on Russian logistics hubs, aiming to disrupt military supplies.

Air-raid sirens have sounded four times since Saturday night in Kyiv. At least six people, including a child, were reportedly injured, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The mayor of Kryvyi Rih said a 44-year-old man earlier reported missing had been found dead in rubble. Another person was killed and 14 workers of a steel plant were wounded there.

Two people in their 60s were killed when a house was destroyed in Zaporizhzhia, while a person was also killed in Sumy, according to the Ukrainian president.

Zelensky said the cities of Kremenchuk and Kryvyi Rih were hit by ballistic missiles, adding: "Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure."

Russia said its attacks on Kyiv on Saturday night targeted a FirePoint facility producing parts for Ukrainian Flamingo missiles and a factory making components for drones.

A book market in the city's Pochayna district was damaged in the strikes. Burnt books could be seen lying on the ground, while firefighters continue to douse the flames.

Sixty-nine-year-old Valentina's husband owned a market stall.

Looking through the rubble, she told the BBC: "All these books in the street were from my husband's stall in the market - I recognise them on the floor."

She added: "You never think that it will happen to you."

Vinyl store owner Luba, 42, said she has lost 500,000 hryvnias (£8,262) worth of stock.

"This business was my baby - many of the vinyls destroyed were rare and irreplaceable," she told the BBC. "I want Russia to disappear from this Earth."

The country's defence ministry also said it hit the Kremenchuk oil refinery in Poltava region, which it said supplied fuel to the Ukrainian military.

Moscow said it struck a steelworks in Kryvyi Rih it said had been making weapons components.

Russia also said it hit a dry cargo vessel near Odesa, claiming it had been carrying military equipment.

Zelensky said 13 regions had come under attack this week, with Russia launching more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 guided aerial bombs and 62 missiles.

In Russia, air defences intercepted and destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones, according to its defence ministry.

Meanwhile, the Romanian defence ministry said a Spanish fighter jet shot down a drone that had breached its airspace near the border with Ukraine and Moldova.

The drone entered from Moldova and was intercepted by an F-18 deployed on Nato duties at 05:01 local time (02:01 GMT) on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

Debris fell in an unpopulated area of the Galati region, near the Ukrainian border, it added.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and currently controls approximately a fifth of Ukrainian territory.

With marginal gains being made by either side in an attritional ground battle along a lengthy front line, the war has predominantly become an aerial one, with exchanges of missiles and drones aimed at degrading each country's warfighting ability.

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Source: BBC World

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