Russian-installed governor claims Ukrainian drone strike kills 7 in occupied Kherson region

Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor, said on Thursday that seven people had been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike which hit a market in an occupied area of the country’s southern Kherson region.

Saldo said the drones struck a marketplace in the town of Oleshky at about 9:30am local time, injuring a further 20 people.

“After the first wave of strikes on the market in Oleshky, which had already caused death and injury, the enemy sent FPV drones to finish off the survivors,” Saldo wrote. He said that emergency services were on site.

Kyiv has not commented on the incident.

Oleshky is located on the left bank of the Dnipro River, across from the city of Kherson, which has been back under Ukrainian control since being liberated from Russian forces in November 2022.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the rubble of a house in the southern port city of Odesa hit by a Russian drone overnight was still being cleared. In total, 21 drones struck the city overnight, causing many fires, he said. The drone strikes killed two, according to RBC Ukraine.

Russia used 170 drones across Ukraine overnight, striking the Odesa, Kyiv, Sumy, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy and Kharkiv regions, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.