Russian strikes on eastern Ukraine have killed at least six people overnight, local authorities have said, as Moscow shot down 605 Ukrainian drones over its territory and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Rescuers worked on Thursday to douse fires and clear debris in Balakliya, in the eastern Kharkiv region, after Russian strikes on homes killed three people, authorities said on the Telegram messaging app. Vitalii Karabanov, head of the military administration in the front-line city, said the victims were two women and a man.
Three more people were killed overnight and at least 19 others wounded in Russian attacks in the northern region of Sumy. Twelve people were wounded in the city of Sumy following an attack with guided aerial bombs, according to Ukrainian police.
Separately, two people were wounded in a Russian attack in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Oleksandr Ganzha, the head of the regional military administration.
A drone attack on a van wounded six people in the southern region of Kherson, the regional administration said on Telegram.
In Ukraine’s Black Sea area, a Russian attack damaged a foreign-flagged ship loaded with wheat, killing a crew member and causing a fire, Oleh Kiper, Odesa regional governor, said.
Ukraine’s seaport administration said the vessel Mera Queen, under the flag of Guinea-Bissau, was hit late on Wednesday.
For more than a month, Russia has been ramping up its efforts to strangle Ukraine’s trade and export routes, launching near-daily attacks on the country’s Black Sea ports.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had shot down Ukrainian drones overnight. “During the night … air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 605 Ukrainian aerial drones,” the ministry said in a statement.
Local authorities reported that a logistics centre belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries had been “slightly damaged”. The incident comes days after another Wildberries warehouse was struck by drones in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow.
At least 20 warehouses owned by the company have been attacked since July 18. Kyiv alleges that the online retailer, Russia’s largest, plays a crucial role in Moscow’s war effort by supplying dual-use items that can be used for military purposes.
Later on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed the military hit two oil refineries deep inside Russia, the Bashneft-Novoil refinery in the republic of Bashkortostan and the Slavnet-Yanos refinery in the Yaroslavl region. There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities on the claim.
