Russian drones kill two in market outside Kyiv

Russian drones set ablaze a market outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv Sunday, killing two people, while three others died in strikes by ‌Moscow's forces in different regions and Kyiv itself also came under attack, local officials said.

Ukrainian prosecutors said the drone attack hit a market in Sofiiska Borshchahivka on the western outskirts of Kyiv, killing 2 people and injuring about 10.

Pictures posted online showed installations and vehicles ⁠on fire, with debris strewn on the ground.

In the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said nine people were injured, including a child. Six of the injured were being treated in hospital.

Russian forces have long staged intensive attacks on Kyiv and other ⁠Ukrainian cities, mostly at night. In recent weeks, they have launched strikes almost continuously throughout the day.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decried the latest attacks, saying the civilian targets made the acts unquestionably "terrorism."

"Russia has no military ​objective whatsoever in doing this," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. "It is purely an attempt to break ‌people and inflict as much harm as possible on our society."

In the northern city of Sumy, a frequent ‌Russian target near the border, ‌three glide bombs struck near a family support center, killing two people, regional governor ‌Oleh Hryhorov wrote on Telegram.

Russia has long said it intends ​to turn areas of the Sumy region into a buffer zone.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city in the northeast and another frequent target, ⁠a drone struck a car, killing the driver, prosecutors said.

Zelenskyy said Russia had deployed 277 attack drones of various types since Saturday, 155 of them of the jet-powered variety Moscow has recently used more readily as they fly higher and are difficult to intercept.

He ⁠said the ​targets in Kyiv had included a ⁠building used as a residence by the Saudi Arabian ambassador.

Klitschko said on Telegram that a drone had ​struck a high-rise apartment building, triggering a fire in an eastern suburb and wounding one person. Emergency crews extinguished the blaze.

He later said a drone had hit another high-rise in a central district, with emergency services investigating ⁠possible casualties at the site.

Drones had earlier hit areas near a kindergarten ⁠and a playground ⁠in two ‌districts, Klitschko said, and other areas in the city also suffered damage.

Ukraine's largest mobile service provider told the Interfax Ukraine news agency that Russian forces had hit its headquarters in continued strikes on Ukrainian data centers and communications infrastructure. There were no ​casualties.

Russia's Defense Ministry issued statements saying its forces had struck two data centers in Kyiv, a logistics hub in Odesa, as well as two cargo vessels headed for Odesa.

Both sides in the more than 4-1/2-year-old war deny targeting civilians. (Reuters)