At least six people were killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight into Thursday, including three in the city of Balakliia in the Kharkiv region and another three in the northern region of Sumy, local authorities said. A Russian attack also damaged a foreign-flagged ship loaded with wheat in Ukraine's Black Sea area late on Wednesday, according to Odesa's regional governor.
Rescuers worked on Thursday to douse fires and clear debris in Ukraine's eastern city of Balakliia after Russian strikes on homes killed three overnight, authorities said on the Telegram messaging app.
Three people were also killed overnight and at least 19 wounded in Russian attacks on settlements in the northern region of Sumy. Twelve more were wounded in the city of Sumy itself, following an attack with guided aerial bombs, the Ukrainian police said on Telegram.
A drone attack on a van wounded six in the southern region of Kherson, the regional administration said on Telegram. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia also struck two dry cargo vessels near Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa late on Wednesday, TASS news agency reported, citing the Russian Defence Ministry.
The vessels were transporting military goods, the ministry said.
Read moreRussian barrage on Kyiv region kills at least 17
According to Oleh Kiper, Odesa regional governor, a Russian attack damaged a foreign-flagged ship loaded with wheat in Ukraine's Black Sea area, killing one crew member and causing a fire.
Ukraine's sea ports administration said that the vessel Mera Queen, under the flag of Guinea-Bissau, was hit late on Wednesday.
For more than a month, Russia has been ramping up its efforts to strangle Ukraine's trade and export routes, launching nearly daily attacks at the country's Black Sea ports.
Russia says it downed 605 Ukrainian drones overnight
Ukraine hit two oil refineries deep inside Russia, the Bashneft-Novoil refinery in the republic of Bashkortostan and the Slavnet-Yanos refinery in the Yaroslavl region, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram on Thursday.
Earlier, Moscow's defence ministry said Russia had shot down 605 Ukrainian drones during the night over its territory and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
"During the night ... air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 605 Ukrainian aerial drones," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry flagged attacks in the Tver region about 180 kilometres northwest of Moscow, where local authorities reported a logistics centre belonging to the e-commerce giant Wildberries had been damaged.
Read moreUkrainian drone strikes on Russia kill at least six, spark fire at Wildberries warehouses
Regional governor Vitaly Korolyov said air defence systems had repelled the Ukrainian attack.
"As a result of the fall of debris from one of the drones, the facade of the Wildberries logistics centre was slightly damaged," he wrote on Telegram, adding that no one had been wounded.
Ukraine has repeatedly struck sites belonging to Wildberries – a popular online commerce platform often described as Russia's Amazon – across the country since mid-July.
Mikhail Yevrayev, governor of the Yaroslavl region around 250 kilometres north of Moscow, reported the "most massive attack" against his region, saying 92 drones had been shot down.
Debris caused fires in houses and damaged cars, he added on Telegram.
More than four years after the start of Russia's large-scale offensive against Ukraine, diplomacy is at a standstill and the two countries are ramping up long-range strikes, causing a growing number of civilian casualties.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
