<p>Kyiv, Ukraine: Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that two airstrikes a day earlier had killed at least 18 civilians, one of the highest single-day tolls so far this year and a grim reminder of the war’s enduring devastation as it approaches its fourth year.</p><p>The first strike occurred Saturday morning when a Russian missile hit a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Poltava, nearly 150 miles from the front lines, killing at least 14 people, according to local emergency services. Videos from the aftermath of the attack showed a section of the building reduced to rubble, with clothes and documents scattered across the area.</p><p>A few hours later, Ukrainian authorities said that a Russian bomb had smashed into a boarding school in Sudzha, a town in western Russia that is under Ukrainian control, killing four people.</p><p>The Russian Defense Ministry blamed Kyiv for the deadly strike in Sudzha and did not address the attack on Poltava. Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.</p><p>Ukrainian officials said that some 90 Russian civilians displaced by the nearby fighting had been sheltering in the school when the attack occurred. Oleksiy Dmytrashkivkyi, a military spokesperson in the area, said in text messages that four of those people had been killed and 10 injured.</p>.Ukraine says it destroyed Russian command post in Kursk region.<p>“They destroyed the building even though dozens of civilians were there,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said Saturday night in a social media post, emphasizing that those were Russia’s “own civilians.” He shared images of the ruins and of people covered in dust, visibly shaken by the attack.</p><p>Sudzha, a small town near the Ukrainian border in Russia’s western Kursk region, was captured by Kyiv’s forces during a cross-border assault last summer and has since been occupied by Ukraine.</p><p>Saturday’s attacks underscored the brutal toll of the war on civilians. Since Russia’s invasion began nearly three years ago, more than 12,300 civilians have been killed, a U.N. official reported just before Christmas.</p><p>The United Nations noted a sharp increase in casualties last year because of the use of long-range drones, missiles and glide bombs capable of reaching distant targets.</p><p>Ukrainian authorities have urged their Western partners to supply more air-defense missiles and systems to protect Ukrainian cities. “We need better protection — air-defense systems, long-range weapons and sanctions pressure,” Zelenskyy said Sunday, noting that just last week, Russia had launched nearly 50 missiles, 660 attack drones and more than 760 glide bombs.</p>
<p>Kyiv, Ukraine: Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that two airstrikes a day earlier had killed at least 18 civilians, one of the highest single-day tolls so far this year and a grim reminder of the war’s enduring devastation as it approaches its fourth year.</p><p>The first strike occurred Saturday morning when a Russian missile hit a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Poltava, nearly 150 miles from the front lines, killing at least 14 people, according to local emergency services. Videos from the aftermath of the attack showed a section of the building reduced to rubble, with clothes and documents scattered across the area.</p><p>A few hours later, Ukrainian authorities said that a Russian bomb had smashed into a boarding school in Sudzha, a town in western Russia that is under Ukrainian control, killing four people.</p><p>The Russian Defense Ministry blamed Kyiv for the deadly strike in Sudzha and did not address the attack on Poltava. Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.</p><p>Ukrainian officials said that some 90 Russian civilians displaced by the nearby fighting had been sheltering in the school when the attack occurred. Oleksiy Dmytrashkivkyi, a military spokesperson in the area, said in text messages that four of those people had been killed and 10 injured.</p>.Ukraine says it destroyed Russian command post in Kursk region.<p>“They destroyed the building even though dozens of civilians were there,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said Saturday night in a social media post, emphasizing that those were Russia’s “own civilians.” He shared images of the ruins and of people covered in dust, visibly shaken by the attack.</p><p>Sudzha, a small town near the Ukrainian border in Russia’s western Kursk region, was captured by Kyiv’s forces during a cross-border assault last summer and has since been occupied by Ukraine.</p><p>Saturday’s attacks underscored the brutal toll of the war on civilians. Since Russia’s invasion began nearly three years ago, more than 12,300 civilians have been killed, a U.N. official reported just before Christmas.</p><p>The United Nations noted a sharp increase in casualties last year because of the use of long-range drones, missiles and glide bombs capable of reaching distant targets.</p><p>Ukrainian authorities have urged their Western partners to supply more air-defense missiles and systems to protect Ukrainian cities. “We need better protection — air-defense systems, long-range weapons and sanctions pressure,” Zelenskyy said Sunday, noting that just last week, Russia had launched nearly 50 missiles, 660 attack drones and more than 760 glide bombs.</p>