KYIV, July 16: Russian and Ukrainian strikes killed five people on both sides of the war border, officials said Thursday.
The attacks came as Ukraine has stepped up drone barrages against Russia in what it calls retribution for Moscow's invasion, now in its fifth year.
Ukrainian shelling killed a 15-year-old girl and her grandmother in a village in the western Russian border region of Bryansk, said acting governor Yegor Kovalchuk.
Another man was killed in a drone raid on Russia's Yaroslavl region, some 300 kilometres (190 miles) northeast of Moscow, local authorities said.
Russian missiles pounded the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, killing two people and wounding five, including a child, Ukraine's emergency services said.
Russian strikes kill Ukrainian grain tycoon; drone hits Russian...
"Moscow is counting on ballistic terror and continues its strikes, so it's critical now to speed up deliveries of interceptors for our air defense," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The salvo included 13 missiles, among them eight ballistic missiles, and 151 drones, he added.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard a series of explosions after a Ukrainian air force alert reported the approach of several ballistic missiles.
There were several bright flashes in the sky, followed by half a dozen detonations, they said.
The attack on Kyiv came hours after a visit by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were both in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday morning.
"This was already the sixth ballistic attack on Kyiv in July alone," Zelensky said.
Kyiv has faced regular Russian ballistic missile attacks since last month -- weapons that are fast, hard to intercept and typically fired in rapid salvoes.
Ukraine is suffering in particular from a shortage of missiles for its US-designed Patriot systems, which are essential for intercepting ballistic projectiles.
US President Donald Trump said last week that he would grant Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot missiles.
Zelensky said Wednesday that production could begin by the end of 2026, but analysts say setting up production may take almost two years.
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