Child killed as massive drone attacks shake southern Russia

A six-year-old girl died in hospital from injuries sustained in a drone strike on the Krasnodar region, Governor Venyamin Kondratiev wrote on Telegram. Five more people were injured.

According to the governor, a three-story residential building was badly damaged by debris from a crashed drone. An air base from which Russian drones regularly take off for Ukraine is located near Primorsko-Akhtarsk. According to media reports, a power station in the small town on the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov was also hit. Videos shared on social networks reportedly show the moment of the explosion.

The attack in the Krasnodar Territory:

The neighboring Rostov-on-Don region was also hit by the attacks. Governor Vasily Golubyev wrote that the air defense intercepted all drones, so there were only isolated “fires in the landscape.” The independent portal Astra reported in turn that an oil refinery in the area was hit. The extent of the damage is unknown.

The attack in the Rostov-on-Don region:

Kamikaze drone hits gunpowder factory
According to a report by Ukraine’s military intelligence service HUR, a so-called kamikaze drone also hit a gunpowder factory near Tambov, nearly 420 kilometers southeast of Moscow and more than 400 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. There is still no precise information about the consequences of the attack, Ukrainska Pravda quoted the statement as saying. There was no communication from the Russian side.

Since Russia began its war of aggression against Ukraine more than two years ago, it has regularly shelled civilian targets in the neighboring country’s hinterland. But regions near the border in Russia also complain of increasing shelling from the Ukrainian side. However, the number of victims and the extent of the damage do not match the destruction caused by Russia.

Ukraine reports 32 drones shot down
The Ukrainian air force, for its part, reported that it had repelled all drones aimed at the country by Russian forces on Friday evening. A total of 32 drones were shot down over seven Ukrainian regions, the military wrote in the morning on the short-message service Telegram. The governor responsible for the capital Kiev said that the air defenses were active in the early hours of the morning.

Ukraine is adapting to the new form of warfare and is now increasingly relying on drones. Accordingly, the Stavka, Ukraine’s top military leadership, made a decision on the future production and use of drones at its most recent meeting. The decision took into account various factors, ranging from the popularity of certain drones among the troops to the use of so-called long-range drones, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in his evening video address.