Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces continued to claim lives as the conflict entered its fifth year, with both sides reporting casualties from recent strikes. According to officials from Moscow and Kyiv, at least 16 people were killed over the past 24 hours amid ongoing military operations.

Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian attacks killed at least six civilians in northeastern Sumy, as well as in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Among the victims was a 17-year-old girl in Dnipropetrovsk. In Kyiv, several people were wounded after a daytime Russian assault that the previous day resulted in seven fatalities. Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital have intensified in recent weeks as the city faces the prospect of another harsh winter under conflict conditions.

Russian officials confirmed that Ukrainian strikes resulted in four deaths in their southern Krasnodar and Belgorod regions. Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-appointed head of the occupation administration in Kherson, stated that a Ukrainian drone attack struck a café in Askaniya-Nova, near the Crimean peninsula, killing two young girls born in 2004 and 2006, along with a man. Additionally, Yevgeny Balitsky, Moscow’s installed official in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, said night raids killed three more civilians there.

The United Nations has expressed concern about the rising toll of civilian casualties as hostilities escalate. Speaking at the UN General Assembly this week, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his belief that a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine "was going to happen," although many analysts remain skeptical given the ongoing violence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of daily escalations in military activity. On the ground in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, residents were grappling with the aftermath of recent drone strikes. One local, Oleksandr Gorlachov, recounted how his elderly parents—both hard of hearing—were forced to flee their damaged apartment amid fires. Despite the destruction, Gorlachov expressed determination to remain in Kyiv, stating: “I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Conversely, other Ukrainians like Anastasiia Grygorovych, who fled the Russian-occupied city of Gorlivka, are contemplating leaving the country altogether due to the prolonged conflict.

Ukraine has also intensified its own attacks within Russian territory, striking targets farther east than before, including in the Krasnodar and Rostov regions. Zelensky reported that Ukrainian forces hit an oil refinery and industrial plants supporting Russian military operations. He called on international partners to impose additional sanctions on Moscow to pressure an end to the war.

As the war, Europe’s deadliest since World War II, continues without a clear resolution, civilians on both sides remain caught in escalating violence that shows few signs of abating.