At least two die in Russian attacks across Ukraine: Officials

At least two civilians were killed and four wounded in Russian attacks across Ukraine, local officials said early on Saturday.

One person was killed and three wounded in shelling in the eastern region of Luhansk, Governor Serhiy Gaidai said in an online post.

A gas pipeline was damaged in Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, which was without gas and water, Gaidai said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

“Evacuate, while it is still possible,” Gaidai said in a subsequent post, adding that busses were ready for those willing to be evacuated from the region.

One person died and one was injured in an overnight attack on a small village near Poltava, the capital of the central Ukraine Poltava region, the region’s Governor Dmytro Lunin said in a post on the Telegram.

Explosions were heard early on Saturday in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in the north and the western city of Lviv, but there was no information on casualties or damages.

Kyiv’s mayor said that rescuers and medics were working on the explosion site on the outskirts of Kyiv.

Russia has denied targeting civilians since it invaded Ukraine on February 24 and has said Ukrainian and Western allegations of war crimes are fabricated.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said about 2 500 to 3 000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in seven weeks of war with Russia and about 10,000 have been injured.