Russia and Ukraine continued on Thursday long-range attacks far from the front lines, resulting in civilian casualties.
The Ukrainian General Staff said 13 people were killed in Russia's overnight strike, while Russian officials reported four civilian deaths in Ukrainian drone attacks.
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight at Ukraine.
It said on Telegram that air defence units downed or neutralised 48 missiles and 476 drones, but 25 ballistics missiles and 12 drones hit 33 locations. The capital Kiev was the main target of the attack, it said.
In Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region Governor Gleb Nikitin said one person was killed and four injured after drone debris caused damage to an industrial site and residential buildings. He added that air defence systems had intercepted 30 drones.
In the Belgorod region, local authorities said one man was killed and his wife injured when a drone struck a private house in the village of Malakeyevo.
The Russian-backed governor of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said two employees of an energy company were killed during repair work in a drone strike.
The Russian defence ministry said its forces used long-range precision weapons launched from the air, sea and land, as well as drones, to strike defence industry enterprises and fuel and energy facilities in Kiev and the surrounding region.
Military airfield infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy, Chernihiv and Kiev regions was also targeted, it said.
According to the ministry, the strikes were carried out in response to Ukrainian "terrorist attacks" on civilian infrastructure in Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's General Staff said Ukrainian forces struck an oil refinery, the Lukoil Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez oil refinery, in the town of Kstovo in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region.
According to preliminary data, a primary crude oil processing unit was hit, the General Staff said on Telegram, adding that the extent of the damage was being clarified.
Ukraine also said it struck a drone storage site in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, a railway bridge near Stanytsia Luhanska, and a Russian command post in the Kharkiv region.
Independent verification of claims by both sides is challenging due to the ongoing conflict.
Zelenskyy asks US for licence to make Patriot missiles
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the United States on Thursday for licences to manufacture Patriot air defence missiles.
"Air defence supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority... We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licences for Patriots and other forms of cooperation," Zelenskyy said in a post on X and Facebook.
