Protesters chant as they march during a rally calling for a reform of the defence sector and the reinstatement of the young and tech-savvy defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who was sacked a mounth ago, in central Kyiv on August 16, 2026. [AFP]
Strikes killed 19 people in Russia and Ukraine, authorities said Sunday, as waves of drones and missiles pummelled civilian infrastructure on both sides.
With fighting at the front at a near standstill and talks frozen, the warring countries have significantly stepped up long-range attacks deep behind each other's lines, pushing the civilian death toll to its highest levels since the war's first months in 2022.
In Russia, swarms of Ukrainian drones killed five people in a residential area of the southern Rostov region, regional governor Yuri Slusar said.
Three more people were killed in the Belgorod, Kursk and Moscow regions, along with four others in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia.
Moscow's regional governor Andrey Vorobyov described the assault as "one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory". Russia's defence ministry said it had intercepted 822 drones across the country overnight.
- Kyiv market hit -