A recent surge in military activity has left at least 14 people dead as Russia and Ukraine intensify their cross-border attacks. Nearly four-and-a-half years into the war, both Moscow and Kiev appear to be ramping up the scale of their operations, with UN data indicating that civilian casualties in Ukraine have risen significantly this year due to the increased Russian deployment of difficult-to-intercept long-range missiles.
Ukrainian forces have responded with retaliatory strikes targeting Russian energy facilities and retail warehouses, aiming to pressure Moscow into negotiations. In the Belgorod region, acting governor Alexander Shuvaev reported that four people were killed on Sunday, including a 13-year-old girl who was near a playground. Further strikes in Russia resulted in additional fatalities; a drone attack in the Saratov region claimed two lives, while three more people died when a vehicle was struck by a drone in the Udmurtia region, located more than 1,000 kilometres from the front line, according to acting governor Olga Abramova.
Inside Ukraine, regional authorities confirmed that Russian strikes killed two individuals in the Dnipropetrovsk region, with at least one death reported in both the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Additionally, the mail operator Nova Poshta announced that a Russian strike destroyed a postal terminal in the northern Kharkiv region, resulting in the death of a postal worker.
