Russia’s Voronezh region woke to deadly fallout from an overnight drone assault that left two men dead and dozens of others hurt, according to local officials.
Regional governor Alexander Gusev said 17 people were injured, including a child, after what he described as a drone attack.
In a post on the MAX messaging app, Mr Gusev said air defence systems destroyed 113 drones over the region.
He added that the barrage also sparked fires at several industrial sites.
Reuters could not independently verify the report.
Across the border in Ukraine, Russian strikes hit the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, injuring four people, regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said on Telegram.
Ukraine’s emergency service, also posting on the messaging app, reported that two additional people were injured in attacks on the Chernihiv region.
In another Telegram statement, the Russian defence ministry said its forces struck a power station in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, as well as a warehouse in the surrounding region and a separate power station in the Khmelnitskiy region.
The ministry also said it targeted port infrastructure in Chornomorsk and hit a cargo vessel travelling to Odesa that it said was being used for military purposes.
Against this backdrop, the United States has pressed Ukraine to pause strikes on Russian oil refineries, arguing that the attacks have contributed to higher energy prices — a politically sensitive issue for the Trump administration as it wages war on Iran and midterm elections approach next month.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview aired yesterday, said Kyiv could halt such strikes only if Moscow stopped attacking power infrastructure.
As an alternative, he said the United States should either permit the use of Starshield over Russia to help detect missile launch sites or provide Ukraine with Patriot missiles.
