At least eight people died overnight as Russian drone and missile strikes pounded Ukraine's towns and cities, local officials said Saturday. Meanwhile, Moscow's troops continued their grinding advance through the country's east.

The Ukrainian army said four people were killed and dozens - many of them elderly - were injured in the town of Sudzha in the Kursk region, which has been under Ukrainian control for five months. More than 80 people are reported to have been rescued from the building.

Ukraine's military said on Saturday that Russian forces had struck a boarding school housing people preparing for evacuation in a part of Russia's Kursk region held by Ukrainian forces, killing at least four people.