Kiev, 8 November 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Russian airstrikes caused death and injury across Ukraine on Thursday, Ukrainian officials reported.

At least four people were killed and 18 injured in Russian airstrikes targeting the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Rescue workers were still searching for survivors among the rubble of a multi-storey residential building, he said.

Five Russian glide bombs hit the industrial city located some 30 kilometres from the frontline, according to the authorities.

In the neighbouring Donetsk region, artillery shells hit several residential buildings in the village of Mykolayivka. "Two people were killed and five people injured," Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.

He again called on residents to evacuate due to the proximity of the frontline.

Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion for over two and a half years. Russian troops occupy large parts of the Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk regions, but not the city of Zaporizhzhya itself.

Overnight, more than 30 drones were shot down over Kiev, with falling debris injuring two people and causing damage in several parts of the city, the Ukrainian capital's military administration said on Telegram.

Russian glide bombs caused severe damage on the village of Yampil in north-eastern Ukraine's Sumy region. A 33-year-old woman was killed and another woman was injured, the authorities reported.

Ukrainian prosecutors have launched war crimes proceedings on the basis that the bombs were aimed at civilian infrastructure in the settlement.

Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson claimed the life of one person, regional military governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.

The Black Sea port city of Odessa in the south also came under attack from Russian drones, regional military governor Oleh Kiper said. One man was injured and five others were receiving psychological treatment for shock, he said.

Casualties in fighting between Ukraine and North Korea

Skirmishes between Ukrainian and North Korean soldiers in Russia have already led to casualties, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Budapest on Thursday.

"Yes, there are already losses. That is a fact," Zelensky told a press conference.

He said some of the 11,000 North Korean soldiers in the Russian border region of Kursk - where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive this summer - have been involved in direct confrontations with the Ukrainian army.

Zelensky described Moscow's use of North Koreans as a "new wave of escalation" and repeated his demand for the West to respond by providing Ukraine with long-range weapons to hit targets within Russia.

"I think this is precisely the moment to do that," he added, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin would otherwise deploy further North Korean troops.

"Putin always looks at the world's reaction," Zelensky said.

Photo: EPA