KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russian drone strikes killed at least one person and wounded 10 in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, officials said on Wednesday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was intentionally attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure and called on allies to mount pressure on Moscow to halt its war.
He said there had been "another round of deliberate strikes and damage to energy facilities" in the eastern Sumy region and the central city of Nikopol, adding that the strikes had cut power to thousands of people.
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes the Kremlin and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of costly fighting.
A 45-year-old man was killed when a Russian strike hit cars parked outside a house in Zaporizhzhia, the head of the Ukrainian region's military administration Ivan Federov said on Telegram.
Two other people — a 44-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman — were wounded.
In Kharkiv, several people were wounded in drone strikes, mayor Igor Terekhov said.
An AFP reporter saw firefighters hosing down smoke from a building in Kharkiv, where a blaze was raging and black smoke billowed from windows.
Zelensky said Russia had launched 74 drones in total at targets across Ukraine.
Russia also said that Ukraine had fired twice on its energy sites in the Kursk border region overnight.
Power to around 1,500 households was disrupted as a result of the attack, the defence ministry said, accusing Kyiv of "systematically launching strikes with drones and artillery against Russian energy infrastructure".
Both Kyiv and Moscow have complained to the United States about strikes hitting their energy sites, with Kyiv calling on Washington to strengthen sanctions on Moscow for "violating" agreements made at talks in Saudi Arabia.
Following separate meetings with US officials, the White House said both Ukraine and Russia had "agreed to develop measures for implementing" an "agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine".
But both have since accused each other of violating the shaky agreement, which has not been formally implemented.
Zelensky said the "systemic" Russian attacks showed the Kremlin "despises the diplomatic efforts" to halt the war.
"Putin does not even want to ensure a partial ceasefire. What's needed is new and tangible pressure on Russia to put this war on a path towards ending," he added. — AFP
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