KYIV – Four people were killed and scores wounded on Friday in Russian air strikes across Ukraine, including a deadly attack in which a missile slammed into a police building in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town.

In the latest wave of aerial attacks since Russia’s invasion in 2022, two women and a 46-year-old man were killed in the village of Odradakamianka in the southern region of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

The fourth death was in a missile strike that reduced a police administration building to rubble in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, where Mr Zelensky was born.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko initially said a police officer was killed, but officials later said the victim was a private security guard.

Mr Klymenko said 54 people were also wounded in the attack, which officials said damaged administrative buildings, 17 high-rise blocks, four private houses and a religious building.

“There is a lot of work. The enemy has caused a lot of trouble in the city,” regional governor Serhiy Lysak said.

He posted photos on the Telegram messaging app showing rescuers sifting through the rubble, other workers bringing in materials to start repairs, and volunteers distributing tea and biscuits to residents. A large fire was extinguished.

Russia also carried out its fifth drone attack this week on the southern region of Odesa, which is home to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea that are used to export grain and other agricultural products.

Aerial campaign

Russia has carried out regular air strikes on cities and towns across Ukraine since the start of its invasion, including multiple attacks on the national power grid last winter that at times left millions of people without electricity.

Moscow has also intensified attacks on port infrastructure since mid-July, when it quit a United Nations-brokered deal that allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.

Ukrainian officials said air defences shot down 16 of the 20 drones fired by Russia overnight. The southern military command said 14 drones were brought down over the Odesa region and two more over the southern region of Mykolaiv.

Mr Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor, reported damage to a non-residential building in the Odesa region that was hit by falling debris from a drone, but no casualties.

Regional officials said that Russia also attacked the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia and the north-eastern region of Sumy with missiles, wounding several people.

Ukraine’s emergency services said that three people were hurt in the Sumy region, and posted a video showing rescuers pulling an injured woman out of a large crater caused by the explosion. REUTERS