KYIV: Russia and Ukraine traded a series of drone attacks overnight, with both sides claiming to have foiled numerous strikes while casualties were reported in Russia’s Belgorod region.
Russian officials said on Saturday that Ukrainian drone strikes in the Belgorod region, located near the Ukrainian border, had killed one person. The regional governor, via Telegram, confirmed that the strike occurred in the village of Ustinka.
According to Russia’s defence ministry, a total of 47 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight. This included 17 drones taken down in the Krasnodar region, 16 over the Azov Sea, and 12 over Russia’s border region of Kursk.
On the other side, Ukraine’s air force reported intercepting 24 of the 28 drones fired by Russian forces. These drones targeted regions in the central and southern parts of Ukraine, including Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson.
In Zaporizhzhia, four people were wounded due to Russian bombardments, according to the head of the regional administration.
The Ukrainian military claimed responsibility for an overnight strike on a fuel depot near Rovenky in the Russian-occupied eastern region of Lugansk. Kyiv’s forces stated that the strike ignited a fire at the depot, which was reportedly supplying Russian forces.
In Crimea, Russian emergency services reported bringing a six-day fire under control at the Feodosia oil terminal, which had been struck by Ukrainian forces earlier in the week. The fire had raged since the attack, according to Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have made advances along the front lines in eastern Ukraine. In recent weeks, Moscow has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, further deepening the country’s energy crisis as it prepares for a challenging winter—the second since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
