OMM Redaksiyası
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday exchanged accusations over overnight drone strikes that injured at least nine people on both sides of the border, according to Anadolu Agency.
Yury Slyusar, governor of Russia’s Rostov region, said five people were injured in drone attacks, including one person in Taganrog and four in Azov. A child was among those injured in Azov, he said, adding that all five had been hospitalized.
Slyusar reported that falling drone debris damaged apartment buildings, private homes, industrial facilities, a school, a cultural centre and vehicles in Azov. He said air defenses had intercepted more than 30 drones over several locations, including Rostov-on-Don and three districts of the region.
Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the neighboring Krasnodar region, said a drone attack in the Seversky district caused casualties. One injured person was in serious condition, he said, while debris damaged a residential building and fires broke out at two industrial facilities.
Russia reports large-scale drone interceptions
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its forces had shot down 645 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions, as well as over the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
The ministry also said Russian strikes in Ukraine had hit a data center in Kyiv that it alleged supported mobile internet services and “Starlink” satellite communications for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It further claimed that strikes hit a port facility, a road bridge and a logistics center in Ukraine’s Odesa region, as well as a dry-cargo vessel it said was transporting military supplies in the Black Sea.
Damage reported in Kyiv and Odesa
In Kyiv, the city’s military administration said a drone struck an area between a five-storey residential building and a commercial property in the Solomianskyi district. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people had been injured, based on preliminary information.
Klitschko later reported fires near warehouses in the Darnytskyi district and at a store after a drone fell inside a shopping center in the Sviatoshynskyi district. Debris shattered windows near a residential building in the Obolonskyi district, while a fire also broke out in an office building in Solomianskyi district.
Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, described the attack there as “massive”. He said civilian infrastructure had been damaged, including the facades and windows of more than 10 private homes and apartment buildings, a hotel and restaurant complex, and administrative buildings at a business facility.
Ukraine’s Air Force said air defenses had shot down 134 of the 173 drones launched by Russia overnight.
The claims could not be independently verified because of the ongoing war. Russia and Ukraine have intensified strikes in recent months, targeting logistics hubs, ports and energy infrastructure. Both sides deny deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure and say their strikes target military facilities or sites linked to military activities.
