Russian strikes kill at least 7 in Ukraine, Kyiv says

Russian strikes killed at least seven people and wounded almost 60 across Ukraine on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a stronger response from allies.

Ukrainian officials said two people were killed in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and two in the central Zhytomyr region. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said two people were killed by a missile strike on its plant in the central city of Kryvyi Rig, where it reported damage to production facilities.

In the frontline city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine's interior ministry said one person was killed when a Russian drone struck a passenger car in a parking lot near a supermarket.

Zhytomyr regional leader Vitaliy Bunechko said the two people killed in his region died when Russia struck a grocery store in Zvyagel, about 230 kilometres west of Kyiv. He said two petrol stations were also hit in Korosten, farther north in the same region, without causing casualties.

Zelensky said a Russian strike on an apartment building in Odesa wounded 37 people and left rescuers searching for two missing people. He said another 11 people were wounded in Chornomorsk, in the Odesa region, and that others were wounded in the Kryvyi Rig and Kyiv regions.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky said Russia had increased strikes on petrol stations in recent days, including in Kyiv and on motorways, and called for stronger security.

Zelensky also said Ukraine had struck chemical enterprises in Russia's Perm region in the Urals and in the central Samara region. US envoys visited Moscow and Kyiv last week but announced no breakthrough in talks to end the war.