Ukraine launches new wave of drone attacks on final day of vote for president
Ukraine has launched a new massive wave of drone attacks as Russians cast ballots on the final day of a presidential vote set to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule for another six years.
The Russian Defence Ministry reported downing 35 Ukrainian drones overnight, including four in the Moscow region.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a fifth drone, close to the capital's Domodedovo airport, was later downed on Sunday morning. No casualties or damage were reported.
According to the ministry, another two drones were shot over the Kaluga region just south of the Russian capital and the Yaroslavl region north-east of Moscow.
The attacks in Yaroslavl, which is about 500 miles from the Ukrainian border, were some of the farthest launched by Ukraine so far.
More Ukrainian drones were downed over the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions that border Ukraine and the southern Krasnodar region, the ministry added.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the Ukrainian shelling killed a 16-year-old girl on Sunday and injured her father.
A drone fell on a refinery in the Krasnodar region, sparking a blaze that was extinguished a few hours later, according to regional authorities. A worker at the refinery died of a heart attack, officials said. Refineries and oil terminals have been key targets of Ukrainian drone attacks.
Elsewhere, a drone strike at a military installation in Moldova’s breakaway republic of Transnistria yesterday destroyed a helicopter and ignited a fire, officials said. The area’s pro-russian authorities blamed the strike on Ukraine. In a statement, the Bureau for Reintegration Policies said they did “not confirm any attack” on Transnistria and described the reports as an “attempt to cause fear and panic in the region”.
The attacks followed a series of other Ukrainian drone raids over the past few days that Mr Putin described as an attempt by Ukraine to frighten residents. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said 14 Russian drones had been shot down over the Odesa region yesterday.