The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said yesterday that Ukraine had struck a dam on a local reservoir, causing damage.

In a statement on Telegram, Vyacheslav Gladkov said that repeat strikes on the dam could risk flooding, and advised residents of parts of two border settlements, Shebekino and Bezlyudovka, to leave their homes for temporary accommodation.

Belgorod region borders Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region, and has come under attack by Kyiv's forces since the outbreak of full-scale conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv, reports Reuters.

Separately, Russia's Defence Ministry said that its forces had downed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including seven that were flying towards Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russian overnight drone and missile strikes killed four people and wounded some 20 others in the Ukraine capital Kyiv and several other regions, authorities said yesterday.

"One rescuer was killed and another wounded as a result of a repeated missile strike on the Petropavlivska community in the Dnipropetrovsk region," the internal affairs ministry said on social media.

A woman was also killed, and seven people were injured in the eastern region, the ministry added, reporting damage to fire trucks, residential buildings, and shops, reports AFP.

Moscow also targeted Kyiv, killing two people and wounding 12 others, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

AFP journalists heard the distinctive whirring of missiles and powerful blasts at around 4:00 am (01:00 GMT).

Emergency services shared photos of firefighters battling flames as major fires broke out in the Desnyansky and Darnytsky districts.

Russia fired nine Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 62 attack drones, the Ukrainian air force said, adding it had downed four ballistic missiles and 50 drones.

The US and the European Union announced new sanctions this week on Russian energy.

US President Donald Trump's administration has prepared additional sanctions it could use to target key areas of Russia's economy if President Vladimir Putin continues to delay ending Moscow's war in Ukraine, according to a US official and another person familiar with the matter.

US officials have also told European counterparts that they support the EU using frozen Russian assets to buy US weapons for Kyiv, and Washington has held nascent internal conversations about leveraging Russian assets held in the US to support Ukraine's war effort.

While it is not clear whether Washington will actually carry out any of those moves in the immediate term, it shows there is a well-developed toolkit within the administration to up the ante further after Trump imposed sanctions on Russia on Wednesday for the first time since returning to office in January.