Daytime Russian drone attacks kill three, wound 12 in Ukraine

A daytime Russian drone barrage mainly targeting western Ukraine killed at least three people and wounded at least 12 more in what appeared to be a pivot in Moscow’s aerial bombardment strategy.

Moscow has been pounding Ukrainian cities for more than four years, but Russia usually launches its large-scale drone and missile attacks at night.

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AFP journalists in Kyiv saw residents sheltering in metro stations and heard air raid sirens ring out as the capital’s mayor said air defense systems were operating against drones.

In the western Ukrainian city of Rivne, authorities said three people had been killed and four wounded in drone attacks that also damaged civilian infrastructure and a residential building.

At least eight people were wounded in the southern Black Sea region of Odesa and the central regions of Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy.

Kyiv’s military intelligence warned earlier that Russian forces had launched a “prolonged air strike against critical facilities in Ukraine.”

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