KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Three people were killed when a Russian drone hit an apartment block in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa overnight, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said Saturday.
A further eight people sustained injuries, authorities said.
Ukraine´s Armed Forces reported that the Odesa region was attacked by eight drones, of which seven were shot down by air defenses.
Across the country more widely, air defenses shot down 14 of 17 drones launched against Ukraine, according to the country’s Armed Forces.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported Saturday morning that over 20 settlements in the eastern Ukrainian province had sustained Russian artillery and mortar attacks, while high-rise buildings in the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, were damaged by a drone attack.
He said that there were no casualties, but that three people suffered an “acute stress reaction.”
A view of a damaged apartment’s building after a reported drone attack in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, March 2, 2024. Russia’s state news agency says a drone crashed into an apartment building in St. Petersburg. RIA Novosti said six people received medical help after the explosion rocked the building on Saturday morning, citing the press service of the city’s health care committee. The Mash news site said that the apartment building was hit by a Ukrainian drone. (AP Photo)
In the partly occupied Kherson region, Russian artillery shelling killed a 53-year-old man on Saturday morning, the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office said.
In Russia, a drone crashed into an apartment building in St. Petersburg Saturday morning, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Six people received medical help after the explosion rocked the building, the agency said, citing the press service of the city’s health care committee.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency workers clear the rubble on the site of a destroyed multi-store building after a Russian attack on residential neighbourhood in Odesa, Ukraine, Saturday, March 2, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service Office via AP)
The Mash news site said that the apartment building was hit by a Ukrainian drone. The Associated Press could not verify this claim.
The site published videos appearing to show the moment the apartment building was struck, showing a strong flash of light engulfing one side of the building and fragments of debris flying into the air. Another video showed car alarms going off.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has not commented on the incident.