Ukraine conducted a drone attack on a Russian metal plant in a border region on Wednesday, resulting in a fire at a fuel tank, according to the local governor.
Meanwhile, Kyiv said that it had intercepted dozens of Russian drones, as both sides started a round of nocturnal aerial attacks aimed at targets well behind the battle lines.
“Today another attack on the Kursk region was carried out by Ukraine,” Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt said in a video message uploaded on his Telegram account on Wednesday.
“A drone struck a fuel and lubricant storage in Zheleznogorsk. “There are fires in the area right now,” he said.
He then stated that a second drone had struck the depot at the Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant in Zheleznogorsk, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
A fire raged inside a cylindrical fuel storage tank, as shown in videos posted on Russian social media, with heavy grey smoke pouring.
Kyiv had no immediate comment.
Ukrainian forces have begun a wave of drone assaults against Russian energy facilities in recent months, attempting to target the country’s crucial energy and gas sectors, which they claim Russia is using to fuel its invasion.
Ukraine also claimed that Russia shot 42 Iran-designed attack drones and five missiles into its territory overnight, injuring at least seven people.
“As a result of combat operations, 38 Shaheds were shot down,” the air force stated in a statement, referring to the unmanned aerial vehicles, which were launched from Russian border regions and the occupied Crimea peninsula.
Aerial attacks
Throughout the two-year invasion, Kyiv has urged its Western partners to assist in strengthening its air defenses in order to fend off systematic Russian aerial attacks on critical infrastructure.
According to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, seven persons, including a 10-year-old kid, were hurt during the nocturnal attacks in the eastern Sumy area.
Governor Volodymyr Artiukh stated that one of the drones shot in the Sumy district targeted a hospital that held 400 patients.
A school and kindergarten building in northeastern Kharkiv were destroyed, but no one was injured, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
According to officials in the southern Odesa area, debris from fallen drones damaged a recreational facility, a gas pipeline, and residential buildings, while some Khmelnytsky residents were left without power following the attack.
According to regional officials in Russia, Ukraine fired artillery and drones near the Belgorod border. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported modest damage but no casualties.
Russia’s defense ministry says it shot down Ukrainian drones over Belgorod and Voronezh.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Sochi later Wednesday to address the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility.
The facility, Europe’s largest nuclear energy site, was captured by Russian soldiers in the early days of the conflict.
The Kremlin also stated on Wednesday that it does not respect International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued Tuesday for two top Russian commanders over suspected war crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is not a member of the Hague-based court.