Six dead following Russian and Ukrainian shelling overnight

Six people have been killed following Russian and Ukrainian shelling overnight, officials have said.

Moscow unleashed a massive missile and drone barrage on the west of the country on Sunday, following through on its promise to retaliate for an attack on a Russian tanker. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 attack drones and missiles.

Two of the six fatalities occurred during an air strike in the Kharkiv region, according to the head of the local regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov. Another four were injured.

Elsewhere in the Kharkiv region, a 58-year-old woman was killed and a 66-year-old man was admitted to hospital after shelling in the village of Podoly, an official said.

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Russian attacks in the villages of Torske and Niu-York in the Donetsk region killed two people, local governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said. Ukrainian shelling in Russian-held city of Donetsk killed a woman in her eighties, Moscow-appointed mayor, Alexei Kulemzin, said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that a guided bomb had hit a blood transfusion centre in the area’s Kupyan district late on Saturday.

Heavy shelling continued along the frontline in the east of the country as Kyiv continues to push forward with its ongoing counteroffensive.

In the Kupyan region, Russian missiles injured a 55-year-old man and ignited a forest fire, officials said on social media.

Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights early on Sunday following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital.

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Vnukovo airport briefly suspended flights on Sunday morning after a drone was shot down in the airspace.

The attack was one of four strikes on the Russian capital in the space of a month, spotlighting Moscow’s vulnerability as the war drags into its second year.

The Russian defence ministry added that no one was injured from the abortive drone attack, although Russian media outlet Baza later reported that a 77-year-old man suffered a shrapnel wound to his hand. The reports could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, China is said to be in support of a third round of talks to find a framework for peace in Ukraine after a meeting of senior officials from about 40 countries in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.

The two-day summit in Jeddah was the second of its kind following a similar forum in Copenhagen earlier this summer and aims to draft key principles on how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Mr Zelenskiy said he hoped the initiative would lead to a “peace summit” of world leaders this autumn to endorse the principles, based on his own 10-point formula for a settlement.

The talks, which excluded Russia, were attended by the United States, India, the European Union and China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui. “We have many disagreements and we have heard different positions but it is important that our principles are shared,” Li said before the meeting. – AP, Guardian