2-year-old girl dead, 22 injured after Russian attack – BBC News World

A two-year-old girl was killed and 22 injured after a suspected Russian airstrike on a residential area in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

His body was pulled from the rubble of a house in the Pidhorodnenska community overnight, the region’s governor said.

Serhiy Lysak said five of the injured were children, with three children in serious condition at hospital.

An earlier video shared by the Ukrainian president showed rescuers searching for the remains of a two-story building.

Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed Russia for the attack, but the Kremlin has yet to comment on the events.

Explosions have also been heard over the capital kyiv, where air defense systems have again been deployed. The entire country was placed under air strike alerts earlier.

Zelensky described the explosion in Dnipro as a deliberate Russian attack, although Russia has previously denied targeting civilians during its invasion of the neighboring country.

Fires broke out after the alleged attack in a northern district of the city, according to the regional governor, who said 17 of those injured in the blast were taken to hospital.

Explosions were reported in other parts of the country. Air defense systems were engaged early on Sunday to repel airstrikes near kyiv, the head of the Ukrainian capital kyiv’s military administration said.

All missiles targeting the city were shot down, Serhiy Popko wrote on the Telegram messaging channel.

Officials in Sumy, in the north, recorded 87 explosions as a result of Russian shelling, speaking of injuries and destruction of infrastructure.

More than a dozen explosions were also reported in the Russian-occupied southern cities of Berdyansk and Melitopol, though details were scant. Explosions have also been reported in the central city of Kropyvnitsky.

In Russia, authorities said on Saturday that two more people had been killed in fresh attacks in the Belgorod border region.

Local authorities said Ukraine was to blame, though Ukraine itself said the deaths were the result of Russia trying to target anti-government fighters in Moscow.

kyiv denied direct involvement, saying again that the attack was organized by Russian paramilitaries.

In other developments, a close aide to President Zelensky has said his country is not yet ready to begin its long-promised counter-offensive against occupying Russian soldiers.

His words seemed to contradict those of Zelensky, who was quoted just a day earlier as saying that Ukraine was ready to start the move.

But the inconsistent comments by Ukrainian officials may be a deliberate effort to confuse Moscow, the Sunday Times noted.