Russian shelling of Ukrainian front-line villages kills four and hits top floors of an apartment bloc

Russian shelling of front-line villages in eastern Ukraine killed four people as Moscow has stepped up airstrikes

Russian shelling of front-line villages in eastern Ukraine killed four people while rescuers in the city of Dnipro dug through rubble after a Russian attack ripped through a nine-story residential building, leaving one dead, officials said on June 29.

The attacks came as Russia continues to stretch out Ukrainian forces in several areas along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front. Moscow has stepped up airstrikes in a bid to drain Ukraine’s resources, often targeting energy facilities and other vital infrastructure.

The shelling of the front-line village of Niu-York in the Donetsk region also left five injured, said Gov. Vadym Filashkin. He said that Russian forces had shelled populated areas 13 times over the past 24 hours.

In Dnipro, at least one person died and 12 were injured, including a 7-month-old girl, after a Russian strike destroyed the top four floors of the apartment bloc Friday evening, regional head Serhii Lysak said.

Kyiv has also struck back at Russia with its own aerial attacks.

A Ukrainian drone strike killed at least five people in Russia’s Kursk region, local officials said Saturday. Two children were among the victims of the attack in the village of Gorodishche on the Russian-Ukrainian border, Gov. Alexey Smirnov said on social media.

In its morning statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said that six Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight over the country’s Tver, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, as well as over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. It did not give information on the reported strike in the Kursk region.