Heavy Russian shelling targeted several areas in Ukraine and the Russian army shot down 36 drones

Casualties as a result of a Russian strikes on a southern Ukrainian city and villages in the Donetsk region on Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said.

The strikes came after Ukrainian forces retreated on the ground and Moscow launched several attacks in recent weeks.

Following the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on his Western allies to accelerate the pace of delivery of weapons needed by Kiev.

Zelensky said, “The decisions we need should be accelerated… Any delay in decisions in this war means the loss of human lives,” he said.

Zelensky called for the delivery of weapons to destroy Russian rocket launchers.

On the other hand, the governor of Zaporizhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said a strike on the city of Vilniansk had killed seven civilians, including two children.

Fedorov said on social media, “The Russians attacked the city of Vlniansk in the Zaporizhzhya region… According to preliminary information, seven residents were killed and ten injured”.

“A vital facility, a shop and residential buildings were damaged,” he said.

Vilniansk is located 29 kilometers northeast of the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhia.

Since its invasion of Ukraine began, Russia has launched attacks on Zaporizhia and nearby towns, but in recent weeks it has focused most of its efforts on the east rather than the south.

Ukrainian officials said previous attacks on border villages in the eastern Donetsk region had killed four people.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Vadim Villashkin, said on social media, “In Zarishny village, the Russians killed three people”.

In another context, Russian forces destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones in areas in western Russia close to the border, the Defense Ministry said.

“Operational air defense systems destroyed 15 drones over the Kursk region, nine drones over the Lipetsk region, four drones over the Voronezh and Bryansk regions, and two drones over the Oryol and Belgorod regions,” the Russian defense ministry said in a Telegram post.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian soil this year, targeting energy sites it says supply to the Russian military, as well as towns and villages across the border.