June 20 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russian forces were preparing an impending massive attack on Ukraine and warned residents to take special care as Russian strikes in different regions killed at least six people.
“Tonight and in the coming hours, it is especially important to pay close attention to air raid warnings,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “The Russians have prepared for a massive attack. Please take care of yourselves.”
Russian forces have staged a series of heavy attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks and in other major cities. Strikes last Monday killed 10 people throughout the country and badly damaged the Pechersk Lavra monastery, a 1,000-year-old monastery that stands as a symbol of Ukrainian spiritual and cultural heritage.
Zelenskiy has pledged that his military would press on with its campaign of medium and long-range strikes, focused on the oil sector.
Zelenskiy said Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in Tyumen region in western Siberia on Saturday and Ukrainian drones also struck Moscow’s oil refinery twice this week.
On Saturday, Russian forces attacked the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia with glide bombs, killing five people and injuring 10, Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
He said the city had endured nine strikes and several residential buildings and other infrastructure had been damaged.
Near the Russian border, a bomb attack killed one person on the outskirts of the city of Sumy, local officials said.
In southern Kherson region, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said one person had died in a drone attack on a village north of the region’s main city, also called Kherson.
Three children were injured when the central city of Poltava came under Russian shelling, local officials said.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Editing by Franklin Paul)
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