Russia, Ukraine exchange drone, missile attacks

This handout photograph taken on June 12, 2024 and released on June 13, 2024 by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, shows firefighters trying to stop a fire at an industrial facility damaged following an air strike, in the Kyiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. – Ukrainian air defence downed two dozen Russian drones and several missiles early June 12, some targeting the capital Kyiv, officials said Wednesday. Russia’s repeated attacks across Ukraine are depleting the country’s military, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to plead for aid from allies. The air defence said it downed all 24 drones and five out of six missiles fired by Russia — a result praised by Zelensky. (Photo by Ukraine Emergency Service / AFP)

Kyiv and Moscow staged dozens of drone and missile attacks overnight, officials said Friday, leaving several wounded in Ukraine and damaging a fuel reservoir site in a Russian border region.

The two sides have stepped up cross-border aerial assaults in recent weeks, with Kyiv targeting Russian energy facilities and Moscow launching retalitory barrages.

Russia said it had downed 87 Ukrainian drones, of which 70 had targeted the southern Rostov region that houses the headquarters of its military operation against Kyiv.

The defence ministry said 70 drones were downed over Rostov, six each over Kursk and Voronezh, and two each over Volgograd and the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

The attacks sparked power cuts in several areas of the Rostov region, its governor Vasily Golubev said on social media.

In Voronezh, which borders Ukraine, a fuel reservoir was slightly damaged by falling debris, its regional governor Aleksander Gusev said.

Kyiv meanwhile said Ukrainian air defence systems had downed 24 out of 31 Russian drones and missiles fired overnight.

Six people were wounded in an attack on the frontline town of Selydove in the war-battered Donetsk region, its governor said.

Three people were wounded in a drone attack in the eastern Sumy region and several homes were damaged in the neighbouring Kharkiv region.

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