Ukraine and Russia trade strikes as both sides accuse the other of killing civilians

NEWS WIRES

20 April 2024 at 9:32 am·1-min read

Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Russia in the early hours of Saturday, setting a fuel depot ablaze, officials said, as both sides accused each other of deadly attacks on civilians.

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said cross-border Ukrainian attacks left at least three people dead, while a Russian strike killed two in Ukraine's northeast.

A source in Ukraine's defence sector told AFP Kyiv targeted eight Russian regions in the "large-scale" drone attack, which was aimed at "energy infrastructure that feeds Russia's military-industrial complex".

"At least three electrical substations and a fuel storage base were hit and caught fire," the source said, calling it a "joint operation" of Ukraine's SBU security service, army, and military intelligence.

Russia's defence ministry said it had intercepted 50 Ukrainian drones overnight, some of them hundreds of kilometres from the border, including near the capital Moscow.

Video on social media purportedly showed a large blaze burning at a fuel depot in Russia's western Smolensk region, an attack that the governor confirmed was caused by drones.

"Air defence forces shot the aerial vehicles down. However, as a result of falling debris, a tank with fuel and lubricants caught fire," governor Vasily Anokhin said.

(AFP)