Russia attacked southern Ukrainian cities again on Monday, including the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, killing at least 10 civilians and injuring dozens more.
In the city of Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky's hometown, two Russian missiles hit a nine-storey apartment building and a university building.
The regional military administration said of at least six people died - including a mother and her 10-year-old daughter. Some 75 others - including six children - were injured.
"There will be no forgiveness!" Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on Telegram.
Local authorities believe that more people may be trapped under both buildings. The apartment building that was hit was partially burnt out and in particular danger of collapse, video footage showed.
Rescue work involving more than 350 volunteers was ongoing, Zelensky said.
Four more civilians were killed by Russian fire in the city of Kherson, which was liberated from Russian occupation in October 2022. Another 17 people were injured there.
Among the dead was an employee of a municipal communal enterprise who was killed by Russian artillery fire on Monday morning, according to the local military administration. Two of his colleagues were injured.
The greater part of Kherson Province remains occupied by Russian troops.
Zelensky expressed his condolences to the victims via Telegram and condemned the "Russian terror."
Russian authorities, meanwhile, reported damage from Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia.
A Russian government building was struck overnight near the town of Trubchevsk in the Bryansk region of Russia, according to the local governor, Alexander Bogomaz. He said there was damage to the roof and windows of the building, but no casualties.
The Bryansk region is north and slightly to the east of the Ukrainian border.
In Russia's Rostov region, Governor Vasily Golubev also reported destruction in the settlement of Daraganovka after an incident with a drone. The area is about 105 kilometres east of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
A house and a car were damaged, Golubev said, but no one was injured. Videos circulated on social networks of a destroyed building after an explosion, with smoke rising from the rubble.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov derrided alleged Ukrainian attacks as an "act of desperation" by Kiev after failures in its counteroffensive, according to Russian news agencies.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu echoed those remarks and said Russia would intensify its strikes against Ukrainian military targets from which "these terrorist attacks" were being carried out.
Substantial areas of Ukraine have repeatedly been struck by massive Russian drone and missile attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, killing scores of civilians.
Russia's border regions have repeatedly complained of attacks from the Ukrainian side, with casualties and damage in these areas minimal compared to the Russian destruction of Ukraine.
Moscow consistently blames Kiev for the shelling in the border region. Over the weekend, Moscow was also once again the target of drone attacks.
Kiev has not officially admitted any involvement in these attacks.
In fighting along the frontlines, meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have managed to recapture nearly 15 square kilometres from occupying Russian troops in their counteroffensive last week, according to a post from Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar on Monday.
Maliar said that territory along the front lines in southern Ukraine accounted for the bulk of the gains at 12.6 square kilometres.
In the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Ukrainian soldiers recaptured another 2 square kilometres near the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut, according to Maliar.
In total, more than 240 square kilometres have been recaptured since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive about eight weeks ago.
Russia continues to control more than 100,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, also responded Ukraine's push for possible future Western security guarantees for Ukraine by warning of a deteriorating security situation in Europe.
Peskov claimed that possible bilateral security guarantees for Ukraine would upset the principles of international relations and must not come at the expense of Russia's needs.
"In our opinion, this will only lead to a further deterioration of the security situation on the European continent," Peskov said on Monday.
Ukraine hopes to start talks this week with the United States about security guarantees before joining NATO at a later date.
The head of the presidential office in Kiev, Andrii Yermak, said on Sunday that the US has made concrete and long-term commitments to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion now and to prevent future aggression by Moscow afterwards.
