MOSCOW: Ukrainian drone strikes killed five people, including two children, in Russia and on the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula, in attacks that also triggered a fire at a major oil depot in the country´s south, local officials said on Thursday.
Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russia in recent months in retaliation for Moscow´s near-daily barrages of drones and missiles throughout its five-year offensive.
Russia´s defence ministry said it downed 269 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russia and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
In Crimea, which Ukraine is trying to cut-off from Russian logistics and supply routes, the Russia-appointed governor Sergey Aksyonov said: “Two people, including a child, were killed and two others wounded ... as a result of overnight enemy attacks.
Drone strikes also killed two people in the border Bryansk region -- a 23-year-old driver and 15-year-old girl -- and one in the Belgorod region, regional authorities said.
Kyiv insists that the Ukrainian army first and foremost targets military installations and energy infrastructure, in a bid to deprive the Kremlin´s war chest of vital fossil fuel revenues.
In Russia´s southern Krasnodar Krai region, debris from a drone strike triggered a fire at an oil depot, authorities said Thursday.
