Ukraine attacks Russian facility in deadly drone strike
Residents were evacuated after debris from a destroyed drone damaged three apartments in the overnight attack, Governor Roman Busargin posted on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.
"Several residents required medical assistance," Busargin said.
"Aid was provided onsite, and one person has been hospitalised. Unfortunately, one person has died."
Russian air defence units destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including eight over the Saratov region, the defence ministry said.
It reports only how many drones its defence units take down, not how many Ukraine launches.
Busargin did not specify what type of industrial site was damaged.
Social media footage showed thick black smoke rising over what looked to be an industrial zone.
Reuters verified the location seen in one of the videos as matching file and satellite imagery of the area but could not verify when the video was filmed.
Ukrainian media, including the RBK-Ukraine media outlet, reported the oil refinery in the city of Saratov, the administrative centre of the region, was on fire after a drone attack.
Reuters could not verify those reports.
There was no official comment from Russia.
The Rosneft-owned refinery in the city of Saratov was forced to suspend operations earlier this year for safety reasons after Ukrainian drone attacks, industry sources told Reuters.
Russia's SHOT Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported about eight explosions were heard over Saratov and Engels, cities separated by the Volga River.
Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Telegram flights in and out of Saratov had been halted for about two hours early on Sunday to ensure air safety.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes on each other's territory in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kyiv says its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure that is key to Moscow's war efforts, including energy and military infrastructure, and are in response to Russia's continued strikes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
17 minutes ago
- ABC News
Australia and allies call on Israel to let aid into Gaza
A joint statement from Australia, Britain, Canada and their European allies says "urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation" in the Palestinian enclave. ( Reuters: Hatem Khaled )
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Ukrainians speak out against Trump's expected land swaps in Russia conflict
Donald Trump is adamant land swapping will be key to any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. But there are questions about how those whose homes are on the bargaining table feel about the changing battle lines. CNN Reporter Nick Paton Walsh has been speaking with Ukrainians in Sloviansk, a city at risk of becoming Russian territory.
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Personal victory for Putin': Ukraine panics as Trump floats land swap of occupied Donbas to end war
Ukrainians living in towns close to the eastern front lines have reacted with 'panic' at the prospect they could soon become part of Russia under a possible land swap deal floated by Donald Trump ahead of peace talks with Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that his Russian counterpart had scored a 'personal victory' by getting invited to talks with Mr Trump on US soil, and that the meeting further delayed sanctions on Moscow. Mr Zelensky also ruled out withdrawing troops from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal, after the US President suggested he and Mr Putin might negotiate a land swap to end the war. The summit, set to take place in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday, will be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since 2021 and comes as Mr Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia's nearly three-and-a-half year war in Ukraine. Mr Zelensky, who is not scheduled to take part, has expressed concern that Russia will put forward hard-line demands and that Mr Trump will hammer out a deal that will demand Ukraine cede swathes of territory. Russia is reportedly pushing Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region it controls, covering 9000 square kilometres, as part of a ceasefire deal. 'We will not withdraw from the Donbas … if we withdraw from the Donbas today — our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control — we will clearly open a bridgehead for the Russians to prepare an offensive,' Mr Zelensky told reporters. The Donbas encompasses the eastern Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, both of which Russia claims as its own and has sought to control since its invasion began in 2022. Donbas residents 'Panic' Speaking to CNN in Sloviansk, a Donbas town close to the eastern front lines that remains under Ukraine's control, local journalist Mykhailo said the prospect of suddenly becoming Russian territory was calling 'panic'. 'Many of my friends want to stay here and we all will have to leave,' he said. 'But frankly speaking I don't think it is going to happen.' Mykhailo said he was concerned that the rushed peace talks could fall flat. 'What Trump did wrong he took him out of the bog — he took him out and said 'Vladimir, I want to talk to you. I just like you,'' he said. 'He didn't care that every day Ukrainians die.' In the town's maternity ward, new mother Taisiya was terrified at the prospect the US could give their town away. 'I saw the news,' she said. 'That would be very bad. But we have no influence on that. It's not going to be our decision. People will just give away their homes.' 'Personal victory' Mr Zelensky said Friday's summit would effectively postpone new US sanctions on Russia — sanctions that Mr Trump had promised to impose if Mr Putin refused to halt his war. 'First, he will meet on US territory, which I consider his personal victory,' Mr Zelensky said. 'Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on US territory. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed sanctions.' Mr Zelensky also said he had received a 'signal' from US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia might agree to a ceasefire, without elaborating. 'This was the first signal from them,' Mr Zelensky said. To prepare for the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a call with US counterpart Marco Rubio, who told a US radio show earlier that Mr Trump did not regard the meeting as a 'concession' to Russia. Why Zelensky wasn't invited The White House, meanwhile, confirmed that Mr Zelensky had been sidelined from the peace talks because Mr Putin had extended the invitation to meet. Mr Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the aim 'for the President is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war'. 'I think the President of the United States getting in the room with the President of Russia, sitting face-to-face rather than speaking over the telephone will give this President the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed,' Ms Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, has remained firm that any decisions to end the war without Ukraine will prove futile. 'Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine — they are simultaneously decisions against peace,' the Ukrainian leader said in a statement on Saturday. 'These are dead decisions; they will never work. And what we all need is a real, living peace, one that people will respect.' The European Union (EU), in a statement on Tuesday, also warned 'the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine'. 'Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,' the EU said. 'A just and lasting peace that brings stability and security must respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and that international borders must not be changed by force.' 'No equipment' On the battlefield, Mr Zelensky warned Russia had made sharp advances near the coal mining town of Dobropillia and was planning new ground assaults on at least three different areas of the front line. 'Russian units have advanced 10 kilometres deep in several spots,' Mr Zelensky said. 'They all have no equipment, only weapons in their hands. Some have already been found, some destroyed, some taken prisoner. We will find the rest and destroy them in the near future.' A map published by Ukrainian battlefield monitor DeepState, which has close ties with Ukraine's military, showed Russia had made a double-pronged advance around 10 kilometres deep in a narrow section of the front line near Dobropillia. Dobropillia, home to around 30,000 people before the war, has come under regular Russian drone attacks. The advance also threatens the largely destroyed town of Kostiantynivka, one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine. Russian forces have been accelerating their advances for months, pressing their advantage against overstretched Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian army said on Tuesday it was engaged in 'difficult' battles with Russian forces in the east, but denied Russia had a foothold near Dobropillia. 'The situation is difficult and dynamic,' it said in a statement. 'New offensive' The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said Russia was sending small sabotage groups forwards. It said it was 'premature' to call the Russian advances around Dobropillia 'an operational-level breakthrough'. A Ukrainian military group that oversees parts of the front in the Donetsk region also said Russia was probing Ukrainian lines with small sabotage groups, describing battles as 'complex, unpleasant and dynamic'. Mr Trump has described his summit with Mr Putin on Friday as a chance to check the Russian leader's ideas for ending the war. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made costly but incremental gains across the front in recent months and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions while still fighting to control them. Ukrainian police meanwhile said that Russian attacks in the past hours had killed three people and wounded 12 others, including a child.
