Russia Claims Only 1 Dead, Energy Facility Burns After 'Massive' Ukraine Drone Strike

DOCUMENTATION/Dampak kerusakan akibat serangan Rusia di Ukraina/PHOTO via Instagram @zelenskyy_official

JAKARTA - One person was killed, two power substations and an oil depot burned after Ukraine launched dozens of drones in a series of large-scale attacks on several Russian regions.

"A man was killed, two others were injured and several residential houses were damaged overnight in the Belgorod region," Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region bordering Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app, quoted by Reuters on Tuesday, July 9.

He said that over the past day four people were killed and 20 others were injured in various attacks in Ukraine.

A fire broke out at an electricity substation in the Rostov region after Ukraine launched dozens of drones overnight, said Vasily Golubev, the governor of the southern Russian region that also borders Ukraine.

"The fire is out," Golubev said on Telegram.

A series of explosions were heard in the city of Kalach-on-the-Don in the Volgograd region in southern Russia, the Baza Telegram channel, which has Russian law enforcement sources, reported.

Andrei Bocharov, the governor of the Volgograd region, said in a Telegram post that an electrical substation and an oil depot caught fire from debris falling from a drone that was destroyed by Russian air defenses.

The fire at the substation was quickly extinguished, but firefighters were still working to extinguish the blaze at the oil depot, Bocharov said.

"There is no threat to residential buildings," he added.

A "massive" Ukrainian drone strike was also repelled in southern Russia's Astrakhan region, the region's governor said, adding there were no injuries.

Several Ukrainian-launched drones were also destroyed in the Voronezh region, several hundred kilometers (miles) south of Moscow, and in the Kursk region, in southwestern Russia bordering Ukraine, the governor said. There was no immediate information about potential damage.

Russian officials often do not disclose the full extent of the damage caused by Ukrainian strikes. Reuters could not independently verify the Russian reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

The attack came after Russia blasted Kyiv’s main children’s hospital with a missile in broad daylight on Monday and rained missiles across Ukraine, killing at least 41 civilians in the deadliest wave of airstrikes in months. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed Monday that Kyiv would retaliate.