Three die as Ukraine and Russia exchange drone attacks
Russia's defence ministry said air defences intercepted or destroyed 112 drones across eight Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
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A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said.
Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko.
Emergency workers inspect a damaged car close to the residential house that was destroyed by a Russian missile on Thursday (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said.
According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 53 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said that air defences shot down or jammed 45 drones.
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Eleven people were wounded in an overnight drone strike on the Kharkiv region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Saturday.
The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded more than 150.
The continued attacks come after US President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline – August 8 – for peace efforts to make progress.
Trump said on Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made.
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