Zelensky accuses Russia of "horror" during the Ukraine war as missiles fall

As the weekend got underway, missiles rained down on Ukraine, killing numerous civilians and injuring many more in populated areas. This prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky to accuse Russia of committing acts of "state terror."

Attacks on a southern vacation town, Sergiyvka, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the Black Sea port Odessa, resulted in 21 fatalities and scores of injuries.

Rockets struck residential properties in Solviansk in the heart of the embattled Donbas region, killing a woman in her garden and wounding her husband, a neighbour told AFP Saturday, describing debris showered across the neighbourhood.

The witness said the strike on Friday was thought to use cluster munitions which spread over a large area before exploding, striking buildings and people who were outdoors.

The attacks came after Moscow abandoned positions on a strategic island in a major setback to the Kremlin's invasion.

Victims of the Sergiyvka attacks included a 12-year-old boy, Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation, adding that some 40 people have been injured and that the death toll could rise. 

Ukraine on Friday asked Turkey to detain a Russian-flagged cargo ship that Kyiv alleged had set off from the Kremlin-occupied port of Berdyansk.

While heavy fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, officials said schools in the Ukrainian capital would re-open at the start of the school year on September 1 for the first in-person classes since lessons went online after the invasion began.

Olena Fidanyan, head of Kyiv's education and science department, said land around schools will be checked for explosives and school bomb shelters will be restocked with essentials.