Escalating Violence: Russian Strikes Injure Over 30 in Ukraine Amid Landmark Minerals Agreement

Russian strikes injured over 30 individuals in Ukraine during the night, according to officials who reported the incidents on Friday, just a day after Kyiv and Washington finalized a significant minerals agreement.

Ukraine is optimistic that this agreement will lead to enhanced security commitments from Washington as the nation continues to defend itself against a Russian invasion that has persisted for more than three years.

“Twenty-nine individuals suffered injuries due to an overnight assault by the enemy” on the industrial city of Zaporizhzhia, stated regional governor Ivan Fedorov on Telegram. He noted that a 13-year-old boy was among those affected by the drone strike.

“The Russians targeted civilian infrastructure in the city. Damage was reported to residential buildings, a university, and an infrastructure facility,” Fedorov added.

In another incident, two men were injured in a Russian drone strike in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, where fires broke out at two sites, as reported by Governor Sergiy Lysak on Telegram.

The national railway company of Ukraine announced that its locomotive repair facility in Zaporizhzhia was subjected to a significant attack overnight, resulting in a fire that lasted for several hours, though no injuries were reported.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its air defenses intercepted 121 Ukrainian drones during the night, most of which were shot down over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.

This latest wave of attacks followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement that the minerals agreement with the U.S. provided “equal” advantages for both parties, despite the fact that the deal did not offer specific security assurances for Kyiv.

The Ukrainian president urged his allies to increase “pressure on Russia to compel it to cease aggression and engage in negotiations.”