Russian Strikes Kill 12 in Ukraine as Zelensky Mourns 707 Children Dead

At least 12 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Russian attacks across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities. On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute to at least 707 children killed in Russian attacks since the full-scale war began in February 2022.

In the eastern Donetsk region, at least five people were killed and 11 wounded in Russian bomb and drone strikes, Ukraine's National Police reported. Seven settlements came under shelling, including the cities of Dobropillya, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, Mykolaivka, Sloviansk, and the villages of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka and Kuritsyne. Forty-two civilian facilities were destroyed, including 16 residential buildings. Additionally, 14 apartment blocks, 11 cars, a medical facility, an evacuation vehicle and an ambulance were damaged.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, at least three people were killed and 21 wounded in Russian missile and drone attacks, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.

In the village of Yampil, Shostka district, Sumy region, at least two people were killed and four wounded. The head of the Sumy regional military administration, Oleg Hrygorov, said: “The enemy attacked the Yampil community center... two people died... Four wounded women were taken to hospital and are receiving the necessary medical care.”

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, one person was killed and five wounded by Russian shelling, according to regional military administration head Oleksandr Ganzha. The communities of Nikopol, Marhanetska, Chervonogryhorivska, Pokrovska and Myrivska came under fire. Fires broke out in Slobozhanske and Petrykivska, and a blaze at a logistics company building was extinguished.

In the settlement of Komyshany, Kherson region in southern Ukraine, one person died in Russian shelling, according to local military administration head Oleksandr Prokudin.

On the same day, President Zelensky marked the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, honoring children killed in the war. He wrote on social media: “This day is about the most painful chapters of war, about the greatest injustice and the evil Russia commits by killing the most vulnerable and innocent – children.” He said at least 707 Ukrainian children have been killed, along with thousands wounded, abducted or missing. “Eternal memory to every child who was killed. Our unwavering duty is to remember, protect our children, and do everything possible so that the evil brought by Russia must be punished.”

Also on Monday, the Kremlin said Zelensky could meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow “any time”, after the Ukrainian leader called for a date for a direct meeting to end the war. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media: “Zelensky can come to Moscow any time,” adding that Putin had not received Zelensky's letter.

On the Ukrainian side, in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, one person was killed by a Ukrainian drone striking a civilian vehicle, according to Moscow-appointed governor Leonid Pasechnik. Ukraine also hit a passenger train in Novoaidar, with no casualties. In Crimea (annexed from Ukraine), one person died and three were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger train, according to Moscow-appointed head of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov. He later reported three dead and seven wounded in an attack on non-residential buildings in Simferopol.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of the village of Komsomolskoye in the Zaporizhzhia region after three attacks on Ukrainian troops, causing “up to 430 soldiers, 4 armored fighting vehicles, 8 cars and one anti-artillery radar station” in losses. The offensive came after Putin ordered the strengthening of Russian air defenses, a day after Ukrainian drones struck an oil complex and a naval base in St Petersburg. Putin said: “Russia has air defense systems. Yes, we must improve them. Yes, we must strengthen them. And we will do so.”