Russian strikes in Ukraine kill at least two people, injure several others

Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least two people early Saturday, local authorities said, a day after a deadly attack on a busy shopping centre.

Kyiv City Military Administration reported a fire in a warehouse in the capital's Darnytskyi district after issuing an alert for a ballistic missile.

"According to preliminary information, unfortunately, there is one person dead and several injured," the administration said on Telegram.

In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian drone killed a man and wounded four people, according to the head of the regional military administration Ivan Fedorov.

The strikes came after a series of Russian bombings killed at least 20 people in Ukraine on Friday, including 16 in a daytime drone attack on a busy shopping center in President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown Kryvyi Rih.

Rescue operations continued through the night, according to regional military governor Oleksandr Ganzha, who reported nine people missing, including two children.

Rescue services said the attack wounded 130 people, including 23 children.

The United Nations reported that the civilian death toll so far this year had risen to its highest level since the first months of the war.

Kyiv has repeatedly appealed to its allies for additional support as Russia steps up its strikes, with Ukrainian forces struggling in particular to intercept salvos of ballistic missiles.

Ukraine has also escalated retaliatory strikes on Russia in recent months, in part to pressure Moscow to the negotiating table to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Diplomatic efforts have failed to move the two sides towards a deal, with Russia demanding sweeping territorial and political concessions from Kyiv.

Zelensky has ruled out agreeing to those terms, arguing it would amount to an effective capitulation that would leave his country exposed to another Russian attack.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)