Russia, Ukraine launch overnight drone attacks

Ukraine launched a drone attack on a Russian metal plant in a border region on Wednesday, causing a fire at a fuel tank, the local governor said.

Kyiv meanwhile announced it had intercepted dozens of Russian drones as both sides launched a wave of overnight aerial attacks in an attempt to hit targets deep behind the front lines. “Today another attack on the Kursk region was carried out by Ukraine,” Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt said in a video message posted on his Telegram channel on Wednesday morning.

“A drone attacked a fuel and lubricants warehouse in Zheleznogorsk. There are fires in the area right now,” he added.

He said later a second drone had hit the depot at the Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant in the city of Zheleznogorsk, some 90 kilometres from the border with Ukraine.

Videos posted on Russian social media showed thick grey smoke billowing as a fire raged inside a cylindrical fuel storage tank.

Ukrainian forces have launched a wave of drone attacks at Russian energy facilities in recent months, trying to target the country’s vital energy and gas sector that it says Russia uses to fuel its invasion.

Ukraine also said that Russia fired 42 Iran-designed attack drones and five missiles at its territory overnight in a barrage that injured at least seven people. “As a result of combat operations, 38 Shaheds were shot down,” the air force said in a statement, referring to the unmanned aerial vehicles, adding that the drones were launched from Russian border regions and the annexed Crimean peninsula.