Ukraine strikes kill six in occupied Donetsk and Russian border regions as Kyiv recovers from weekend bombardment

Ukrainian strikes have killed six people in occupied Ukraine and in Russia's border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk, according to local authorities. The deaths were reported on 25 May, with four people killed in the frontline town of Gorlivka in occupied Donetsk and two more in attacks in the Russian border areas. The strikes came after intense Russian bombardments over the weekend that hit Kyiv and left the capital dealing with the aftermath of the attacks.

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Local Moscow-installed officials in Gorlivka said four civilians were killed there, including two children born in 2012 and 2013. Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said the deaths occurred in the Kalininsky district of the town, using the Russian spelling Gorlovka. In the early morning hours, two people were reported killed after Ukrainian drones struck the western Russian border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod.

The reported deaths were confirmed by local authorities in those regions. The latest attacks follow a weekend of Russian strikes on Kyiv in which Ukrainian authorities said Moscow used a nuclear-capable missile. Those bombardments killed four people and wounded more than 100, according to the Ukrainian side.

Rescue teams were still stabilising buildings in Kyiv after the attacks, underlining the scale of the damage in the capital. Russia said its raid was in retaliation for a Ukrainian drone attack on educational buildings in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region that left 21 dead and more than 40 injured. The exchanges are the latest sign of how the war continues to be fought through reciprocal drone and missile attacks far from the front line.

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Fighting on the battlefield remains effectively deadlocked, with both armies continuing to strike each other's territory and occupied areas. The civilian toll remains high, and the latest deaths add to the pressure on already strained emergency and rescue services. The attacks also show how border regions and occupied towns remain exposed to the conflict's wider reach.

The war began with Russia's full-scale offensive in February 2022 and has since developed into a prolonged conflict marked by repeated long-range strikes. Ukraine has regularly targeted Russian territory in response to daily bombardments it says it has endured since the start of the invasion. The latest violence also comes against a backdrop of stalled US-mediated negotiations to end the conflict, which have been at a standstill since the outbreak of war in the Middle East.

That diplomatic pause leaves little sign of an immediate breakthrough. What remains unclear is whether either side will alter its strike pattern in the coming days or whether the latest deaths will prompt any change in the military tempo. It is also not clear how many people may still be affected by damage in Kyiv after the weekend bombardment.

#Ukraine #Russia #Kyiv #Donetsk #Belgorod

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