Russia and Ukraine launched dozens of drones at each other Wednesday in an aerial assault that left energy facilities damaged, one dead and at least four wounded in Ukraine, reports AFP.
According to the report, “AFP journalists in Kyiv heard explosions ringing out after the Ukrainian air force said Russia fired a barrage of 177 drones of various types on the country.”
Authorities in the Kyiv region said one person was killed and two were wounded on the outskirts of the capital.
"The body of a deceased woman was found during the firefighting operations in a two-story private house in the Bucha district," said governor Mykola Kalashnyk.
The interior ministry said two people were wounded in the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and that one drone hit a nine-storey residential building.
Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, said one of its facilities had been damaged in the Dnipropetrovsk region, without elaborating.
The drone attacks by both sides have become a deadly, daily reality of the war, now into its fourth year, as the United States pushes Ukraine and Russia towards a halt to fighting.
Russia's defence ministry said it had shot down 128 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions and annexed Crimea, in one of the largest Ukrainian attacks since the start of the war in February 2022.
Kyiv has stepped up air strikes against energy and military facilities on Russian territory in recent months, in response to Russian bombardments of its cities and energy infrastructure.
Air defence forces "intercepted and destroyed 128 Ukrainian aerial drones" including 30 over the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014, the Russian defence ministry said.
In addition to the Krasnodar region, known for its Black Sea resorts, drone attacks also targeted the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk, which border Ukraine, according to the ministry.
No major damage was immediately reported by Russian media or authorities.
But Andriy Kovalenko, an official responsible for disinformation on the Ukrainian security council, said there was an attack on the Russian port of Tuapse.
Kovalenko said the town was a key Russian cargo port that has one of the country's largest oil terminals.
Bd-Pratidin English/ AM
