Towns and villages in the east and south of the country, which are within reach of the Russian artillery, suffered most, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing regional officials.
Six people died in the eastern Donetsk region, two in the southern Kherson province, and two in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to the office of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In addition, 20 others were injured, officials told reporters.
This latest barrage of Russian shelling came a day after Moscow's missiles and self-propelled drones struck deeper into Ukrainian territory, killing at least 11 people, according to news reports.
It also came in the wake of announcements by Germany and the United States, as well as Poland, among other Western countries, that they would provide modern tanks to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion.
Ukraine claims to have killed 109 Russian troops in a day in Donbas
Ukraine’s army has killed 109 Russian soldiers and injured a further 188 in a single day during fighting around the town of Vuhledar, in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Kyiv’s military officials.
Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesman for the eastern operational command of the Ukrainian armed forces, said Russian casualties reached such levels on Thursday, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Cherevatyi stated: “Fierce fighting is ongoing. The enemy is indeed trying to achieve an intermediate success there, but thanks to the efforts of our defenders, they are unsuccessful.”
Meanwhile, Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said Russian troops had used “fiercely-burning phosphorus munitions” as they shelled the village of Zvanivka, about 20 kilometres north of Bakhmut, a city that has become the focus of an enervating standoff in recent months, according to news reports.
The shelling also damaged apartment buildings and two schools in nearby Vuhledar, Kyrylenko said, as cited by the Associated Press.
UN restates need for security zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who visited Ukraine last week, has said that IAEA monitors reported powerful explosions near Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, according to news outlets.
Grossi renewed calls for a security zone around the plant, the Nuclear Street website reported.
Russia bans CIA, FBI websites
Meanwhile, Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor has announced that it has blocked the websites of two US intelligence agencies, the CIA and the FBI, the Reuters news agency reported on Friday.
Moscow is accusing the two outfits of “spreading false information,” The Guardian reported.
Friday was day 338 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
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Source: Associated Press, The Guardian, Nuclear Street, Reuters