Moscow and Kyiv reported a sharp rise in casualties over the past 24 hours, with at least 16 people killed in reciprocal air strikes as the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its fifth year. The escalation follows what officials describe as the deadliest summer since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Ukrainian authorities stated that Russian attacks claimed at least six lives across several regions, including Sumy in the northeast, Zaporizhzhia, and the Dnipropetrovsk area, where a 17-year-old girl was among those killed. Additional injuries were reported in the capital, Kyiv, which has become a frequent target. The city is preparing for another harsh winter of warfare, with Moscow intensifying its bombardments.
On the other side, Russia reported that Ukrainian drone strikes killed four people in the Krasnodar and Belgorod regions. Vladimir Saldo, the official appointed by Moscow to administer the occupied Kherson region, confirmed that a Ukrainian drone hit a cafe in the village of Askaniya-Nova near Crimea. He stated on Telegram that rescuers recovered the bodies of two young girls, born in 2004 and 2006, along with one adult man in the vicinity. Another Moscow-appointed administrator, Yevgeny Balitsky, reported that nighttime strikes in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region killed three more individuals.
United Nations officials have raised alarms regarding the growing toll on civilian populations. During the UN General Assembly this week, US President Donald Trump reiterated his confidence that a settlement between the two nations was imminent. However, diplomatic prospects remain dim, with the Kremlin maintaining its stated objective of capturing the remainder of eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the ongoing escalation, noting that Russia is increasing hostilities daily. In a personal account from Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, resident Oleksandr Gorlachov described returning to his home after a drone strike damaged his apartment building. He recounted finding his elderly, deaf parents outside in tears amidst the flames and destruction.
“I watched as my mother is standing there in her nightgown, my father in his underwear, outside the building in tears … and there are flames, everything is burning,” Gorlachov told AFP. “The apartment is completely smashed up.”
While Gorlachov expressed determination to stay despite the mounting stress, other residents are reconsidering their futures. Anastasiia Grygorovych, a resident who fled the Russian-occupied town of Gorlivka, said she is now contemplating leaving Ukraine entirely after her window fell on her during a recent attack.
Kyiv also conducted retaliatory strikes on Russian territory. Zelensky announced that Ukrainian forces targeted an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region and a facility supplying Russian troops in the neighboring Rostov region. This marks part of a broader Ukrainian strategy this year to strike deeper into Russia, reaching as far as the Urals and Siberia. The Ukrainian leader called on international allies to impose stricter sanctions on Moscow.
Trump says peace is imminent, but both sides are intensifying attacks. The diplomatic gap is terrifying.
Another winter of rubble. The stories from Kyiv residents are heartbreaking and show the true cost of this endless escalation.