34 wounded in Russian strikes on central Ukraine: official

Russian missile attacks across Ukraine early Monday wounded 34 people in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, including children, regional authorities said.

The barrage came after another wave of attacks last week that ended a weeks-long pause after systematic Russian strikes during winter targeting key infrastructure.

“There are already 34 wounded due to a missile attack on the Pavlograd district,” Sergiy Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on social media.

“Five of them are children. The youngest is a girl and only eight years old,” Lysak said.

Ukraine said Russia attacked at around 2.30 am (2330 GMT), adding it had downed 15 out of the 18 missiles launched by Moscow’s forces.

Ukraine over the winter strengthened its air defences, including with US Patriot systems after it appealed to Western allies to help fend off Russian attacks on the energy grid.

Russian forces meanwhile have killed one person and wounded three others in the southern Kherson region, an official said.

Russia still controls part of the Black Sea region, having withdrawn from the eponymous regional capital last November.

Most of the fighting in Ukraine in recent weeks has centered on the eastern Donbas region, particularly the city of Bakhmut.

Russia has been posting slow incremental gains in the industrial town and controls some 80 percent of it.

The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky said Monday that his troops had led small counter-attacks in the now-destroyed city.

“In certain parts of the city, the enemy was counter-attacked by our units, and left some positions,” he said.

Russia is “failing to take control of the city,” Syrsky said, adding that the situation was still “quite complicated.”