Russia and Ukraine exchanged intense reciprocal airstrikes on the 9th (local time), resulting in dozens of civilian casualties on both sides, according to Reuters, AP, and other news agencies.

The regional governor of Kharkiv, Ukraine, stated that a high-rise apartment building was hit by a Russian missile overnight, leaving 3 people dead and 37 injured.

Dozens of missiles and drones struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and its surrounding areas the previous day.

An official in the Odesa region reported that 12 people were injured in the attack.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed it targeted a drone storage facility in the Kharkiv region and Ukrainian military fuel and supply warehouses in Odesa.

The Associated Press reported that Russian missile attacks targeting Ukrainian cities have become nearly a daily occurrence in recent weeks.

Russia has been exploiting Ukraine's severe shortage of Patriot missile systems, which are Kyiv's only remaining ballistic missile interception network.

Following the outbreak of the war in Iran in late February, increased demand for Patriot systems from the United States and the Gulf region has left Ukraine suffering from a shortage of air defense networks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been appealing to the United States and other Western nations for months to secure additional Patriot missile systems.

Despite its disadvantage in air defenses, Ukraine continues its drone attacks targeting Russian commercial facilities.

Authorities in Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, announced that 6 people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack that day.

According to the Associated Press, debris from Ukrainian drones also fell on two businesses and one residence in Novorossiysk, Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that it intercepted Ukrainian drones over the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov.

Amid the intensifying war of attrition, Russia claimed to have captured two villages in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced via Telegram that Russian forces captured Vashtynske, near Kramatorsk in the eastern part of Ukraine's Donetsk province, and Toretsk, near Druzhkivka in the south.

Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka are part of the four cities comprising the so-called Donetsk "fortress belt."

Since the outbreak of the war, Russia has been slowly advancing westward through the Donetsk region, though the 1,200-kilometer frontline has seen little major change for months.

The Ukrainian military has not officially confirmed Russia's claims.

However, Reuters reported that in his evening video address that day, President Zelenskyy did not mention frontline changes but offered special encouragement to Ukrainian troops engaged in combat in specific areas, including Kramatorsk.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)