Ukrainian drone strike wrecks Russian apartment block, killing two – governor

At least 12 others were wounded in the attack, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev has said

Two people were killed and at least 12 others injured when a Ukrainian drone strike led to the partial collapse of an apartment block in the city of Syzran in Russia’s Samara Region, local authorities have said.

The bodies of a woman and a child were recovered from the rubble of the four-story building, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev wrote in a post on Max on Wednesday morning. Two of the injured required hospitalization, while the rest received treatment on site, he added.

"I express my sincere condolences to those who lost their loved ones. We’re seeing another inhumane criminal act against civilians,” the governor said.

The local emergencies ministry said earlier that there were at least two children among the wounded.

Some 300 rescuers and more than 80 units of specialized equipment had been involved in the search and rescue operation, which went on for several hours, according to the ministry.

A fire broke out in another multi-story apartment block in the same area of Syzran as result of a UAV attack, Shot Telegram channel reported.

There were no injuries and the blaze was being extinguished at the time the story was posted. Two cars parked outside were destroyed by fire due to being hit by debris from the drone, according to the channel.

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Syzran, with a population of approximately 165,000, is the third largest city in Samara Region. It is located on the right bank of the Saratov Reservoir on the Volga River.

Russia was subject to another major Ukrainian drone attack overnight, with the Defense Ministry in Moscow saying that a total of 155 UAVs were destroyed by air defenses in Kursk, Samara, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Volgograd, Rostov and Krasnodar Regions as well as in Crimea and over the Black Sea.

The raids have intensified since mid-March, with Kiev deploying hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs almost on a daily basis, targeting critical infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and residential areas inside Russia.

The officials in Moscow have described the aerial incursions as “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks Kiev’s military has been suffering on the battlefield.

READ MORE: Ukrainian drone strikes kill two children in Russian city – governor

Moscow has retaliated with a long-range strike campaign of its own, targeting dual-use infrastructure, including power grid facilities and military sites in Ukraine with missiles and drones. Russia maintains that it never targets purely civilian sites.