A fresh round of Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least three people and wounded dozens of others over the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s president said on September 12, adding that the strikes targeted civilian sites and infrastructure across the country.
“Since the night, there have been virtually constant strikes on our cities and communities,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Ten regions were under Russian strikes last night, and Russian attack drones are still flying in many of them.”
Two people were killed and six others were wounded by a Shahed-type drone strike on residential buildings in the Zaporizhzhia region, he said, adding that a missile attack on “critical infrastructure” in Kryviy Rih killed one person and injured three others.
In Odesa, 37 people were injured when a high-rise residential building was hit by Russian missile overnight, and rescue operations were under way at the site. The search continued for two people that were unaccounted for, Zelenskyy said.
Earlier, local officials in Odesa said that a 25-story residential building had been damaged, with apartments on the 21st through 23rd floors catching fire. The upper floors were destroyed.
Three other residential buildings were also damaged in Odesa, officials said.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia attacked the country with ballistic and cruise missiles and 129 attack drones, including jet-powered Shahed-type drones. It said Ukrainian air defenses had destroyed or suppressed 110 of the targets.
The air force said strikes were recorded in 20 locations across the country and falling debris in four others. It said the Odesa region was the most affected.
The attacks came a day after Russian strikes killed at least six people in Zaporizhzhia and other parts of Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv have traded strikes on logistics, energy, and other economic infrastructure in recent weeks.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on September 12 that Russian forces had hit the Zaporizhstal steel plant in Zaporizhzhia, as well as an Interpipe Steel complex in Dnipro and several facilities in Kryviy Rih, including the Northern Iron Ore Beneficiation Works complex.
The ministry also said its forces had struck two cargo vessels overnight in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
The claims cannot be independently verified.
The attacks followed a deadly Russian assault on Zaporizhzhia on September 11, when one person was killed, according to Ukrainian officials. Russia also struck other parts of Ukraine that day, including Kyiv, where attacks on two petrol stations killed two people and wounded at least 12.
Russia has intensified its air campaign against Ukraine in recent weeks, including repeated attacks with faster jet-powered drones. The strikes have increasingly hit logistics and economic targets as fighting along the front line has largely stalled.
On September 10, Russian strikes killed five people in the southeastern industrial city of Pavlohrad and also hit a petrol station in Kyiv and a sunflower-oil facility operated by US-based Bunge in Dnipro.
Ukraine Strikes Economic, Industrial Targets
Ukraine has also stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russian economic and industrial targets.
On September 12, Ukrainian drones struck industrial facilities in Russia’s Samara region, Interfax reported, citing regional Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev. He did not specify which facilities were targeted or the extent of the damage.
Ukraine’s military said it had struck the Togliattikauchuk plant, one of Russia’s largest producers of synthetic rubber, in the city of Togliatti, causing a fire.
The Ukrainian General Staff said the plant produces synthetic rubber and fuel additives used in fuel for Russian missiles. The claim could not be independently verified.
The mayor of Togliatti said several residential buildings were damaged and one person was injured.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had downed 230 Ukrainian drones overnight over more than a dozen Russian regions, as well as over Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
In a separate attack, four commercial properties were set ablaze in the southern Russian city of Taganrog, local officials said.
