Pregnant woman among civilians killed during trade strikes in Ukraine and Russia

Kiev:

Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Russia in the early hours of Saturday, setting a fuel depot on fire, officials said, as both sides accused each other of deadly attacks on civilians.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said cross-border Ukrainian attacks killed at least three people, while a Russian attack left two dead in northeastern Ukraine.

A source in Ukraine’s defense sector told AFP Kiev that the “large-scale” drone strike had targeted eight Russian regions, targeting “the energy infrastructure that powers Russia’s military-industrial complex.”

“At least three electrical substations and a fuel storage base were hit and caught fire,” the source said, calling it a “joint operation” between Ukraine’s SBU security service, the army and military intelligence.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had intercepted 50 Ukrainian drones overnight, some of them hundreds of kilometers from the border, including near the capital Moscow.

Video on social media reportedly showed a major fire at a fuel depot in Russia’s western Smolensk region, an attack the governor confirmed was caused by drones.

“Air defense forces shot down the air vehicles. However, due to falling debris, a tank containing fuel and lubricants caught fire,” Governor Vasily Anokhin said.

Kiev has stepped up attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities in recent months as part of what the country calls “fair” retaliation against the infrastructure used to fuel Russia’s war.

Ukrainian drones left two people dead in Russia’s border area with Belgorod, the governor said early on Saturday, while shelling killed a pregnant woman later in the day.

A residential building and a barn in the village of Poroz, less than two kilometers from the border, were “completely burned down,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Another building was severely damaged.

“As a result of the release of two explosives, a private residential building caught fire. Tragically, two civilians died: a woman recovering from a broken femur, and a man caring for her,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram. .

He later said Ukraine shelled the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child.

“Doctors did everything they could to save both mother and child. But sadly, the woman and the unborn baby died from their injuries,” he said.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said Russia launched attacks on residential buildings in the northeastern city of Vovchansk, killing two people and wounding two others.

“A direct hit was registered on a nine-storey residential building. A woman and a man were injured. Both victims are 61 years old. At other addresses, two men aged 50 and 84 were killed as a result of shelling in the city.” Regional prosecutors said this.

The region’s governor, Oleg Sinegubov, shared a photo showing a pile of rubble next to the collapsed section of a multi-storey residential block.

Russia fired at least seven missiles into Ukraine overnight, two of which were shot down by air defenses, the Ukrainian air force said.

Ukraine has been calling for more air defense from its Western allies in recent months as the country struggles to fend off a wave of deadly attacks on civilian infrastructure.

The attack in the northeast comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO to quickly deliver more aid to help his struggling armed forces, which have ceded ground to Russia in recent months.

“This year we cannot wait for decisions to be made,” he told NATO defense ministers.

“We still need seven Patriots or similar air defense systems – and that is a minimum number. They can save many lives and really change the situation,” Zelensky said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)