Russia and Ukraine trade heavy blows

MOSCOW/KYIV — Russia pounded Kyiv with a massive missile and drone attack, while Ukraine said it had hit an oil loading dock at a terminal in Russia's border region overnight, both countries' authorities said on Sunday.

Ukraine's military said it had hit an oil loading dock at the Tamanneftegaz terminal in Russia's Krasnodar Krai region overnight, damaging an oil loading arm.

It came as multiple rounds of loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning, Agence France-Presse reported, in a barrage the air force said involved 600 drones and 90 missiles.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people had been killed in the capital and dozens wounded, while the head of the surrounding Kyiv region said two people had also been killed there.

Air defenses intercepted 549 of the drones and 55 missiles, the air force said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russians had fired a nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile in the barrage.

Russia's Defense Ministry on Sunday confirmed it used the Oreshnik, as well as other missile types, to strike Ukrainian "military command and control facilities", air bases and military industrial enterprises. It did not specify where the targets were.

Ministry officials later told Russian media that no civilian sites were targeted in the overnight strike, the Tass state agency reported on Sunday.

In a statement on social media, the ministry said the attack was in retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on "civilian facilities on Russian territory", without immediately giving details.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denounced a drone strike on a college dormitory in Starobilsk, Lugansk, and ordered the Russian military to submit its proposals for retaliation. He said there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college.

The death toll from the strike had risen to 21 as search-and-rescue operations closed, the press service of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said late on Saturday. It said 42 other people had been wounded in the attack the previous night. Authorities of the Lugansk region announced two days of mourning on Sunday and Monday to honor the victims.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called by Russia on Friday, Russia accused Ukraine of war crimes over the incident while Ukraine said it was a baseless claim.

Several countries called for access to the site. UN officials decried all attacks on civilians.

Russia has targeted Ukraine's power supplies and infrastructure while Ukraine has stepped up attacks on oil facilities inside Russia this year, sometimes resulting in casualties. Both sides deny targeting civilians.

Falling debris from drones triggered a fire at an oil terminal in Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and two people were injured, Russian officials said on Saturday.

Ukraine's military said it had hit Russia's Sheskharis Black Sea oil terminal in Novorossiysk and nearby Grushova oil depot while Zelensky said the military had also hit a large chemical plant in Russia's Perm region.

Perm regional governor Dmitry Makhonin said earlier that an industrial facility, which he did not name, had been targeted by Ukrainian drones but that they had been shot down and caused no damage.

AGENCIES VIA XINHUA