Two children among seven dead in Russian strikes on Ukraine, officials say

Two children among seven dead in Russian strikes on Ukraine, officials sayImage source, ReutersImage caption, People set up tents and camping chairs as they took shelter inside a Kyiv metro stationByOttilie MitchellPublished30 July 2026, 04:51 BSTUpdated 16 minutes agoSeven people, including two children, have died during a Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine, according to local officials.President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Wednesday that Russia had been preparing for a "massive attack", urging people to heed air raid alerts.In the early hours of Thursday, the Ukrainian military reported multiple missile and drone strikes around the country. The attacks come after Zelensky met US President Donald Trump in Washington DC this week to urge the US to grant Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Two girls, aged 5 and 12, were among the six killed in a village near the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih when a ballistic missile hit a private house, a local official said. Eight more people were injured, including two children, the official added, noting that the number of casualties could rise. In Kyiv, one person died and fires broke out in three non-residential buildings overnight, the capital's mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram. Explosions were also heard in Lviv, its mayor Andriy Sadovyi said, reporting that residential buildings had been damaged. Image source, ReutersImage caption, A building damaged by a Russian missile strike on Lviv, Ukraine, 30 July 2026Several other cities were under attack, with missiles reaching western Ukraine, according to BBC Ukraine.In response, Poland mobilised its military aircraft as a "preventative measure", its armed forces wrote on X.Ukraine had been expecting the Russian offensive, with Zelensky warning that "there is a high probability that the attack will occur tonight".Meanwhile in Russia, a regional official reported an overnight attack on the warehouse of...