Russian missile and drone strike in Kyiv region kills 4 and injures at least 15

A together missile and drone attacks in Kyiv region at least four people were killed and at least 15 injured on Saturday night, according to the head of the regional administration.

Three of the injured were in critical condition, two of them were to undergo surgery, Mykola Kalashnyk reported on Saturday. The attack hit four districts, destroying residential buildings, educational institutions, businesses and important infrastructure, Kalashnyk said in a social media post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the main target of the night strikes was “energy infrastructure in the Kyiv region.” He said Russia launched about 430 drones of various types at night, and 68 missiles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday said the overnight strikes targeted energy and industrial facilities serving the Ukrainian military, as well as military airfields.

The strikes came days after the US postponed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that had been scheduled for this week, it said war in the Middle East.

As US and Israeli missiles and bombs rain down on Iran, Russia has responded with angry words. in Moscow providing intelligence to Iran about US positions in the Middle East during the war, multiple sources told CBS News last week. The Kremlin’s sharing of information about US assets marked the first known indication that Russia is indirectly aiding Iran.

But Russia has taken no direct action to support its alliance. Moscow’s failure to help another alliance, after the 2024 ouster of former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and January’s arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, highlighted the limits of its influence – but the Kremlin expects to gain benefits from the Iran war.

Russia is already profiting from rising global energy prices, and may hope that the Mideast war will distract Ukraine’s attention, disarm Western weapons and force NATO allies to reduce military support for Kyiv.

Zelenskyy on Saturday asked Kyiv’s Western allies to pay “one hundred percent” attention to the need to improve the production of air defense missiles.

“Russia will try to take advantage of the war in the Middle East to cause great damage here in Europe, in Ukraine,” he said in a social media post.

“We must be fully aware of the true level of the threat and prepare accordingly, that is: in Europe, we need to improve the production of air defense missiles – especially those capable of combating ballistic threats – and all other systems necessary to really protect lives,” he said.

Kyiv is also awaiting White House approval for a major drone production deal that Ukraine proposed last year, Zelenskyy said on Thursday, as countries scramble to modernize their air defenses after the war with Iran exposed their shortcomings.

Also on Thursday, Zelenskyy criticized the 30-day deadline US lifted sanctions on Russian oil during the war in the Middle East, saying it is “not the right decision” and will not help stop Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine. About 124 million barrels of Russian oil are at sea around the world, CBS News has learned.

“This concession by the United States alone would give Russia about $10 billion in war money,” Zelenskyy said. “This is definitely not good for peace.”

On Saturday night, Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery and the southern Russian port of Krasnodar, local Russian officials reported.

Authorities in Krasnodar say three people were injured in the strike at Port Kavkaz, a port facing Crimea used to transport liquefied natural gas and grain. The ship and the infrastructure of the pit were damaged, they said on the social media. One person was hospitalized, they added in a separate post later.

Falling drone debris also sparked a fire at the Afipsky oil refinery in the region, authorities said in another Telegram post. They said no one was injured, but did not comment on the damage.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 87 Ukrainian planes overnight, including 16 over the Krasnodar region and 31 over the nearby Sea of ​​Azov.

The Mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, said that 16 drones were brought down when they came over the Russian capital since Saturday afternoon.

Earlier this week, Russian and Ukrainian officials both said progress was being made, with Ukraine saying it had pushed Moscow’s forces back from its front lines and the Kremlin insisting Russia’s offensive against its neighbor was progressing.

About two weeks ago, Russia signed that it was not in a hurry to make an agreement to end its war with Ukraine.

“Have you heard anything from us about the deadlines? We don’t have deadlines, we have tasks. We are doing them,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state media in Moscow.