Ukraine: Russian attacks hit homes in Kyiv, Odesa regions, 8 wounded

Russian aerial attacks struck residential buildings in Ukraine's Kyiv and Odesa regions overnight and into the morning of Wednesday, 2 September, wounding at least eight civilians, including a child, local officials said. The Ukrainian air force said the two regions bore the brunt of the latest barrage.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as the conflict enters its fifth year following Moscow's invasion. The front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine remain largely deadlocked, while US efforts to broker a peace settlement have yet to produce a breakthrough.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traded threats late on Tuesday over their next steps. Zelenskyy warned foreign airlines that Russian airspace was no longer safe because of Ukraine's long-range drone attacks, saying "Russian airspace will effectively be closing".

He said the military pressure was aimed at forcing Russia to agree to peace negotiations.

Putin accused Zelenskyy of "state terrorism", saying: "We don't negotiate with terrorists." At a late-night news conference on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin also addressed reports that Ukraine had used British-made drones to strike targets inside Russia.

Asked whether Russia would target British military facilities if the UK continued supplying weapons to Ukraine, Putin declined to rule it out. Smiling slightly, he said the answer was "a military secret".

China and North Korea have provided military support to Russia, while Iran has also backed Moscow in previous years.

The leaders' comments came as European officials weigh their response to what they describe as Moscow's campaign of sabotage and disruption across the continent aimed at weakening support for Ukraine. Germany on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport last month involving a drone laden with explosives.

Russia launched 174 attack drones, about half of them jet-powered drones that are difficult to intercept and are increasingly being used by Moscow, as well as two ballistic missiles and two air-launched missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.

In the southern Odesa region, the attack damaged a 24-storey residential building, destroying apartments on several floors and wounding eight people, including a child, officials said. Office buildings and two educational facilities in Odesa were also damaged, Serhii Lysak, head of the Odesa city military administration, said. The barrage also caused a power outage that halted electric-powered public transport, the city council said.

A man and a woman were wounded by shrapnel in morning attacks on the Kyiv region, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration.

It was the seventh consecutive day that Kyiv came under attack, although Wednesday's barrage was less intense than those of previous days. The assault sparked a fire at a warehouse, officials said. Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilian facilities to disrupt daily life and undermine public morale.

A fire also broke out at an educational facility, while a medical practice was damaged, the Kyiv city military administration said.

Russia's defence ministry said its air defences destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones overnight. The drones were shot down over 11 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea, it said.

Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people and wounded 16 others in Russia's Belgorod border region, acting governor Alexander Shuvayev said. Ukrainian forces struck the region 140 times over a 24-hour period, he said.

Ukraine's domestically developed long-range drones have repeatedly targeted Russia's oil sector in an effort to damage its economy, as well as warehouses operated by online retailers, in an apparent attempt to make the Russian public feel the effects of the war.

The Russian army's drive deeper into Ukraine has lost momentum, according to Western analysts and officials. Russian advances in August were "a fraction" of Moscow's gains during the same month last year, the Institute for the Study of War said late on Tuesday.

Russia's spring-summer offensive has failed to break through Ukraine's front-line defences, the Washington-based think tank said. "Russian gains remain slow and limited," it said.

With AP/PTI inputs