Ukraine unleashed a wave of hundreds of drones across Russia early today, Russian officials said, leaving two people dead and sparking fires in multiple buildings.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight operation hit an export terminal in Russia’s western Rostov region and struck oil facilities in the Yaroslavl and Udmurtia regions, areas well beyond the main battlefront.
“Last night, our long-range sanctions were effective in the Rostov region. An export terminal approximately 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the front line was hit,” Zelensky said in a post on Facebook.
“Deep strikes also targeted oil facilities in the Yaroslavl region and the Udmurt Republic, which is 1,300 kilometres from Ukraine’s state border,” he added.
Regional leaders in Rostov, Yaroslavl and Udmurtia acknowledged nighttime drone attacks but did not report damage to oil facilities.
“An overnight air attack has had tragic consequences. In Rostov-on-Don, two people were killed – a married couple,” Rostov region governor Yuri Slyusar said on Telegram.
Slyusar later said the strikes ignited warehouse fires and damaged several structures, including a shelter for homeless people.
Across the border in Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities said Ukrainian drones injured 12 people — among them two children — and set an apartment building on fire.
Russia’s defence ministry said air defences shot down or intercepted 276 drones during the night.
Ukraine has intensified retaliatory attacks on Russian territory in recent months, moves Kyiv has linked to efforts to increase pressure on Moscow to engage in talks after nearly four-and-a-half years of war.
The escalation comes as the United Nations reported that last month was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since April 2022, citing a surge in Russia’s long-range strikes hitting towns and cities across the country.
In Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia regional governor Ivan Fedorov said a guided aerial bomb and drone attack on the southern city killed one person and wounded two, amid what he described as months of heavy bombardment.
Further north, Sumy regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said on Telegram that a Russian guided aerial bomb attack wounded five people.
Regional officials said the injured included an 88-year-old woman who suffered burns across much of her body.
Russia’s Defence Ministry also said today that its forces struck two vessels carrying military cargo in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv.
Military activity has also risen at sea, with Russia and Ukraine stepping up operations in and around the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in recent weeks, and both sides reporting attacks on dozens of ships, including oil tankers and cargo vessels.
