Russian drone strike kills three in Ukraine’s Odesa region

A Russian airstrike on the city of Izmail, in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, killed three people and injured 11 others, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper announced on Friday.

Describing how Russian forces had resorted to “large-scale terror” in Izmail, a city on the Romanian border, in the early hours of Friday morning, Kiper said that Ukrainian air defences had attempted to repel the Russian attack drones.

In addition to the deaths and injuries, the drone attacks caused damage to multiple residential and other buildings, Kiper continued, adding that several fires had broken out, all of which had subsequently been brought under control.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defence Ministry reported that its air defence forces had shot down nine Ukrainian drones over Russia’s southern Rostov and southwestern Belgorod regions overnight.

Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said that six Ukrainian drones had been downed near the mining city of Novoshakhtinsk, close to the Ukrainian border, but added that no casualties had been reported.