Ukrainian drone strikes have killed three people in Russia’s Belgorod region, a border province that shares a long frontier with Ukraine. Local authorities announced the deaths on Wednesday, citing the attacks as part of a broader campaign that has also targeted critical infrastructure in both countries.
In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that overnight attacks had damaged power generation facilities and substations in nine regions, leaving many cities in emergency power outages. The Defence Ministry confirmed that two power stations in the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions were hit. Residents of the capital were urged to use public drinking water fountains, and emergency centres offering hot tea and charging points were set up in the worst‑hit areas.
Power outages were also reported in the Russian‑occupied Crimean peninsula, home to about 2.5 million people. Russia’s Ministry of Energy said Ukrainian strikes hit energy infrastructure overnight and that temporary outage schedules were in force, though it did not specify how many households were affected. A Moscow‑installed official added that Russia‑held Crimea had ordered power cuts after an accident outside the region.
Beyond the capital, Kyiv, Ukrainian emergency services and local officials reported outages in the Poltava, Dnipro, Kirovohrad and Rivne regions. In southern Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a major Ozon warehouse in Adygeysk, the Republic of Adygea. Ozon confirmed that all workers were evacuated and no injuries were reported, and that damaged goods were removed from its listings and deliveries rerouted.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had downed 709 Ukrainian drones across 14 regions, Crimea and the Black and Azov seas. The attacks come amid ongoing fighting between the two nations and have drawn comments from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who expressed hope that U.S. President Donald Trump would continue peacemaking efforts despite a Democratic victory in the congressional midterms.
Source: Al Jazeera
Read the original article
Editorial note: This is an original news report prepared from the attributed source material with AI assistance. It is not a reproduction or translation of the original article.
