At least six killed in Russian airstrikes on Ukraine as war enters fifth year

At least six people were killed and seven more were injured in Russian airstrikes on two regions of Ukraine on Tuesday evening as Russia continued its relentless bombardment of its neighbour on the fourth anniversary of its invasion.

Russian forces first struck the Synelnykove district of Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said, killing two people and injuring five more in the village of Pokrovske.

Rescue operations in the nearby village of Malomykolayivka were ongoing as of Wednesday morning, Dnipropetrovsk region council head Mykola Lukashuk said, with four people believed to be trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Calling on residents to evacuate, Lukashuk described the situation in the Synelnykove district as “serious”, with Russia continuing to “mercilessly attack frontline communities” with drones.

Russia also struck a village in the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region at around 10pm on Tuesday evening, killing four people and injuring two more, including a child, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that it had downed 95 of the 115 attack drones launched at Ukraine by Russia overnight, 18 of which struck their targets in 11 separate locations.

In Russia, Kremlin-aligned Telegram breaking news channel Mash reported that four people had been killed and three more injured when a Ukrainian drone struck the Dorogobuzh fertiliser plant in the western Smolensk region at around 6am on Wednesday, adding that the emergency services were still tackling a fire that broke out after the attack.

Russia’s Defence Ministry made no mention of the strike on Wednesday morning, saying only that its air defences had intercepted some 69 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian regions as well as over Russian-annexed Crimea and the Black Sea overnight, including 14 over the Smolensk region.