Drones and missiles continue to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border. Seven people were killed on Wednesday in the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv (north-east) and Odessa (south) during nighttime attacks which hit two energy sites, as Russia continued its strategy of targeting the electricity network.
In the Odessa region, four people died, including a 10-year-old girl, and seven others were injured, Governor Oleg Kiper said. “A man is in serious condition, his lower limbs have been amputated,” he said on Telegram, claiming that the region was hit by Russian ballistic missiles.
A few hours earlier, two women and a child had lost their lives in a Russian strike on the Kharkiv region, which is regularly targeted, according to the Interior Ministry, which specifies that two people were also injured. Governor Oleg Synegoubov posted photos on Telegram of rescuers clearing rubble and buildings from which plumes of black smoke rose. This strike took place on the village of Lyptsi, located around ten kilometers from the Russian border, damaging stores, according to the authorities.
17 drones and 3 Russian missiles fired during the night
Ukraine's Energy Ministry previously reported that two energy facilities were hit by nighttime strikes in southern Ukraine. These are an electrical substation in Mykolaiv and production facilities in the Odessa region, he said. The attack caused power outages in both regions.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 17 drones and three missiles were fired by Russia overnight. Two employees of a transport company were injured. Russia has been bombing Ukraine's energy infrastructure for several weeks, particularly in the northeast around Kharkiv but also in other regions, which is leading to large-scale power cuts.
Opposite, three people, including two children, were killed on Wednesday by a Ukrainian drone which targeted a car traveling in a village in the Russian region of Kursk, bordering Ukraine, the governor announced. “A Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive device on a civilian car in the village of Apanasovka, Korenevsky district. Unfortunately, all three people who were in the car at the time were killed, including two children,” Roman Starovoit said on Telegram.
Power lines and journalists
The governor also reported Ukrainian bombings which damaged power lines and caused power outages in several localities in this region. Russian regions bordering Ukraine are targeted almost daily by drone attacks and Ukrainian strikes, carried out in retaliation for the bombing of Ukrainian cities by Russia for more than two years.
On Tuesday, two people were killed by Ukrainian artillery fire in the Bryansk region, according to local authorities. In the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, five civilians were injured by Ukrainian shelling over the past 24 hours in Lyssychansk, a city captured by Russian forces in 2022 in the east, occupation authorities reported.
In the Lugansk region in the east, a group of journalists from Russian public television were the target of Ukrainian shellfire which injured a cameraman, according to Russian news agencies. The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, accused Ukraine in a press release of making Russian journalists “a priority target” with the “tacit agreement” of Westerners.