Russian strikes killed eight civilians and wounded dozens of other people in Ukraine, local officials said Saturday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that sending European troops into Ukraine would amount to direct conflict with Russia.
Ukraine is under mounting pressure from Russia’s intensifying air campaign that uses ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter in what officials say is meant to demoralize civilians.
Three people were killed on Saturday when cars were hit by drones in Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, along with a further two people in a Russian attack on a grocery store in the Zhytomyr region, local officials said.
Putin, speaking to reporters at a summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies in India on Friday, said that if European governments send troops into Ukraine, it will mean “a war with Russia.”
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