Ukraine‘s forces launched dozens of drones at Russia’s border region of Kursk, killing an elderly woman, injuring nine others, and causing fires in multiple buildings in the regional administrative centre, Russian authorities said on Tuesday.
Russia’s defence ministry, which releases data only on how many drones its forces destroy, not how many Ukraine launches, said 109 drones were downed over the Kursk region overnight.
“Kursk has been subjected to a massive enemy attack overnight,” the Kursk region administration said in a post on Telegram messaging app.
“Unfortunately, an 85-year-old woman died.”
Building Damaged
A multi-storey apartment building was damaged as a result of the drone attack, with several flats catching fire, acting mayor of Kursk, Sergei Kotlyarov, said on Telegram. Residents have been evacuated to a nearby school, he added.
The region’s administration posted photos of a multi-storey apartment building with blown-out windows and fire damage to the facade. Drones also hit an ambulance garage, damaging 11 cars, it said.
On Monday evening, three people were killed in the region as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack, officials said.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war, which Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
Kursk Offensive
Kursk and other regions in Russia on the border with Ukraine have been subject to frequent air and land attacks by Ukraine’s forces, who say their goal is to undermine Moscow’s overall war efforts.
Ukrainian troops last year staged a cross-border incursion into the Kursk region, of which the city of Kursk is the administrative centre. Ukrainian forces still remain in parts of the region, although Russian forces have recaptured much lost territory.
The attack follows a Russian missile and bomb attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy over the weekend that killed 35 people and injured at least 119.
(With inputs from Reuters)
