Two people were killed after a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday, local officials said, in another strike that hit civilian areas amid the war’s ongoing air assaults. Regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said seven other people were wounded in the attack. Hours later, he said Russia struck another minibus in Kherson, this time wounding the driver.
The Kherson incidents were reported as part of a wider pattern of drone and missile attacks on urban areas, which have continued since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. AP reported that it was not possible to independently verify battlefield claims described later in the day.
In a separate statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had recorded “rather unusual” activity along the northern border with Belarus on Friday. Zelenskyy said the activity was seen on the Belarusian side of the border and that Ukraine would act if matters escalated, while adding that Ukraine was closely documenting the situation and keeping it under control.
Belarus has served as a close ally of the Kremlin during the war, allowing Russia to use Belarusian territory as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine and host some Moscow tactical nuclear weapons, AP reported.
On Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, AP said a Russian strike damaged port infrastructure in the city of Odesa, and no casualties were reported. Ukrainian officials have said they face relentless air assaults, including continued strikes on critical infrastructure.
On the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, Russia claimed on Saturday that it had taken control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region. Ukraine did not immediately comment on the claim, and AP reported that it could not be independently verified.
AP also reported developments inside Russia, where local officials in the Krasnodar region said a fire that broke out Friday after a Ukrainian strike on an oil terminal in the Black Sea city of Tuapse was put out on Saturday. It said Ukrainian drones have hit the oil refinery and export terminal in Tuapse on four occasions in just over two weeks, prompting fires and leading to local evacuations and smoke.
Ukraine has escalated its long-distance strikes against Russian oil facilities to try to reduce Moscow’s oil exports, which it said are a key source of funding for Russia’s invasion. AP noted that the economic impact has been unclear so far, with oil prices supported by the Iran war and a related easing of U.S. sanctions helping replenish Kremlin coffers.