Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow says 596 Ukrainian drones shot down; 2 killed at Moldova border

Russia said its forces shot down 596 Ukrainian drones overnight as the war saw another surge in aerial attacksMeanwhile Russian strikes in Ukraine killed two people at a border crossing with Moldova and injured several others with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for a stronger international responseRussias Defence Ministry said the drones were intercepted across multiple regions including over the Black Sea and CrimeaThe Ukrainian drone attacks left four people dead including a child in Novorossiysk in Russias southern Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on TelegramOur military repelled a massive overnight enemy drone attack against the region with Novorossiysk hit the hardest he saidThe reported Russian casualties came as Ukraine faced a fresh wave of Russian drone strikesRussian drones hit UkraineMoldova borderTwo civilians were killed in a Russian drone strike at the Starokozache international road checkpoint on Ukraines border with Moldova in the Odesa region regional Governor Oleg Kiper saidTonight enemy drones attacked the Starokozache international road checkpoint on the border with Moldova Kiper wrote on social mediaSadly there are casualties among the civilians who were near the checkpoint according to preliminary information two people were killed and three woundedThe attack forced the closure of the checkpoint around 500 kilometres 310 miles south of Kyiv A Moldovan driver was also injured according to Moldovas foreign ministryZelenskyy said 16 people were evacuated by rescuers and that operations at the crossing had been suspendedHe also said a Russian drone struck an apartment building in Kyiv on Wednesday morning injuring four people Rescue teams extinguished the fire he saidThis morning in Kyiv a Russian drone struck an apartment building Four people were injured As always our rescuers responded swiftly and the fire has now been extinguished Zelenskyy saidHe added that efforts were underway to deal with the aftermath of Russian attacks in the Dnipro Mykolaiv Zaporizhzhia Kharkiv Zhytomyr and Kyiv regionsZelenskyy says international response too littleZelenskyy criticised the international community over what he described as an inadequate response to Russias continuing strikesUnfortunately there has been too little response from the international community to these strikes which are taking peoples lives practically every day he saidBut a response is needed mdash Moscow must not go into the winter believing that it can get away with missile and drone terror without consequences The aggression must be stopped here and now before it spreads any further the Ukrainian President statedZelenskyy said sanctions and international support for Ukraine needed to work effectively towards stopping the Russian aggressionThe partners who can help know exactly what is needed every day And I thank everyone who is helping to the best of their ability he statedFresh strikes come amid peace effortsThe latest attacks came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with US President Donald Trump about efforts to resolve the conflictWashington has been pushing for facetoface talks between Russia and Ukraine Kyiv has said talks could happen this month but the Kremlin has said it is too early to discuss a venue or datesOn Monday Zelenskyy described the territorial issue as relevant to efforts to end the conflict following talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner in KyivMeanwhile Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia welcomed Trumps efforts to bring peace to the regionWe welcome the efforts of American President Trump he saidPeskov also maintained that Russia had never wanted the warWe actually never wanted this war What were trying to do were trying to stop the war that was launched before and it was not launched by us he saidWith AFP and ANI inputs