Three children among seven dead in Russian missile attack on Ukraine
Three children were among the dead after Russian missiles hit a town in southern Ukraine on Saturday evening.
Ukrainian officials published photos of bodies stretched out under picnic blankets in a park in Vilniansk, and deep craters in the blackened earth next to the charred, twisted remains of a building.
Seven civilians were killed and 36 people wounded in the attack, according to Ukrainian authorities who declared a day of mourning on Sunday.
Vilniansk is in the Zaporizhzhia region, less than 20 miles from the local capital and north of the front lines, as Russian forces continue to occupy part of the province.
Local Governor Ivan Fedorov said three children were among the dead and nine others were injured.
In a separate Telegram post hours earlier, he said the strike damaged a shop, residential buildings, and an unspecified "critical infrastructure" facility in Vilniansk, which had a population of around 14,300 prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia continues to stretch out Ukrainian forces in several areas along the 600-mile front and Moscow has stepped up air strikes in a bid to drain Ukraine's resources, often targeting energy facilities and other vital infrastructure.
In the aftermath of the Vilniansk attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Kyiv's Western partners to bolster its air defences and long-range munitions to deter Russian attacks.
In Ukraine's war-torn eastern Donetsk region, eight civilians were killed and 14 others suffered wounds on Saturday and overnight, according to local Governor Vadym Filashkin, as near-daily shelling continues in much of the province.
Shelling also killed one civilian and wounded five others over the same period in the southern Kherson region, its governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, reported on Telegram.
According to local Governor Oleh Syniehubov, four people were injured in Kharkiv province in the north-east, the site of fierce battles in recent months as Russia launched a cross-border push that threatened Ukraine's second-largest city.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed on Sunday its forces shot down three dozen Ukrainian drones over six regions in Russia's south-west overnight.
Debris from one drone fell on a village in the Kursk region, blowing out windows and damaging roofs and fences, according to a Telegram post by regional Governor Aleksey Smirnov.
In the city of Lipetsk, further north, a drone was shot down as it appeared to target the industrial zone, local Governor Igor Artamonov reported.
No casualties were reported in either case.
