Zelenskyy hosts EU official von der Leyen as Russian attacks wound at least 14 people in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian attacks in Ukraine wounded at least 14 civilians over the past day, officials said Saturday, as the president of the European Union's executive arm returned to the Ukrainian capital to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yurii Malashko, said that nine people were wounded in a Russian rocket strike on the village of Zarichne. Overall, 26 cities and settlements in the region came under attack over the past day, he said.

In the Kherson region, five people were wounded, said Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. He said that attacks in the region came from artillery, mortars, drones, warplanes and tanks.

Nikopol, a city of the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, came under fire, but no injuries were immediately reported, according to Dnipropetrovsk regional Gov. Serhii Lysak.

On Saturday evening, the Russia-appointed governor of the annexed Crimean Peninsula said that air defense missiles were fired in the city of Kerch and that fragments fell on a shipyard. He didn't give further details.

Kerch is at the western end of the bridge to Russia's Krasnodar region, which is a crucial conduit for food and military supplies. The bridge has been hit by significant attacks twice.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Saturday morning and was met by Zelenskyy at the train station.

She tweeted that talks during her sixth visit would focus on the path for Ukraine to join the EU “and how we will continue to make Russia pay for its war of aggression.”

The visit came a week before she was due to present a report on the enlargement of the EU, which von der Leyen said will note Kyiv’s progress on its path to membership in the 27-member bloc.

“I must say you have made excellent progress. This is impressive to see,” von der Leyen said after the meeting with Zelenskyy. “We should never forget you are fighting an existential war and at the same time you are deeply reforming your country.”