Russian drone attack
Ukraine says drone attacks hit Russian warehouse as cross-border strikes kill several
Ukrainian drone attacks killed at least five people in different parts of Russia and set fire to another warehouse belonging to Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries, Russian officials said on Sunday, as both countries continued exchanging long-range drone strikes.
Russian authorities said a Ukrainian drone hit a Wildberries warehouse in the Samara region, about 800 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, causing a fire. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said there were no casualties.
Wildberries, often compared to Amazon in Russia, has come under repeated Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks. Since mid-July, Ukrainian drones have struck more than a dozen of the company's warehouses as Kyiv seeks to disrupt Russia's economy and logistics during the ongoing war.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defence systems shot down 635 Ukrainian drones overnight, including some over Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas. The ministry did not say how many drones Ukraine had launched or how many reached their targets.
Ukraine's air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 133 drones overnight, with 24 reaching their intended targets.
In Russia's Saratov region, Governor Roman Busargin said two people were killed after a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building. The attack also damaged civilian infrastructure in the cities of Engels and Saratov.
Engels is home to a major Russian military airbase, while Saratov has one of the country's large oil refineries. Both cities have been frequent targets of Ukrainian drone attacks.
In Russia's Bashkortostan region, Governor Radiy Khabirov said air defences repelled a large-scale drone attack on industrial facilities in the city of Ufa. He said a fire broke out but did not specify which facility had been hit.
In the Udmurt Republic, acting regional head Olga Abramova said three civilians were killed and two others injured in a Ukrainian drone strike. She said Russian air defences shot down two drones but a civilian vehicle was damaged during the attack.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes also caused casualties in Ukraine.
Authorities in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia said a Russian guided bomb hit a residential building, killing one person.
In the northeastern Kharkiv region, another Russian attack killed one person and set a postal terminal on fire, according to regional officials.
The latest attacks came as both Russia and Ukraine continued to intensify long-range drone and missile strikes deep inside each other's territory.
22 hours ago
Zelensky denounces Russian drone attack killing five aboard passenger train
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denounced a Russian drone strike on a passenger train in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region as an act of “terrorism,” after local authorities reported at least five deaths and several injuries.
Officials said more than 200 passengers were aboard the train when a drone struck one of the carriages on Tuesday, while two other drones exploded nearby. Zelensky said 18 people were inside the affected carriage at the time and stressed there was no “military justification” for targeting civilians.
Russia has not commented on the incident. However, it has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure amid one of the harshest winters in recent years.
In a separate incident, dozens of drones targeted the southern port city of Odesa, killing three people and injuring many others, officials said. Energy authorities reported that a local facility sustained “enormous damage” overnight into Tuesday, while Odesa city chief Serhii Lysak said the attacks continued for a second consecutive night into Wednesday.
Meanwhile, police in the Kyiv region said a couple were killed and their four-year-old child was injured after a residential apartment block was struck in a district near the capital.
Read More: Ukraine condemns Russian strikes amid peace talks
Russian attacks have left millions of people across Ukraine without heating, electricity and water, according to officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with Moscow now controlling about 20 percent of the country’s territory.
In a social media post late Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered in exactly the same way – purely as terrorism.”
Images released by Ukraine’s emergency services showed a badly damaged carriage still on fire after the attack. Kharkiv regional prosecutors said the train was hit near Yazykove village while travelling from Chop to Barvinkove via Kharkiv, a route used by civilians and soldiers.
In Odesa, officials said more than 50 drones were launched overnight, killing three people. Despite recent Ukraine-Russia talks in the UAE involving US mediators, key territorial issues remain unresolved.
With inputs from BBC
6 months ago