A Ukrainian drone strike killed eight people and wounded 10 others in the occupied Donetsk region after crashing into a passenger bus, Kremlin-installed authorities said Wednesday morning, as overnight attacks killed at least two people in Russia.
The long-distance coach had departed from Moscow and was traveling to Simferopol in annexed Crimea when it was hit in the town of Yenakiieve.
“One of the seriously injured passengers died from his injuries. A total of eight people have died and ten have been injured,” Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-installed head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told the news agency Interfax.
Russian state media published images of the vehicle, which was left completely burned out on the roadside.
In Russia, three employees of the Emergency Situations Ministry were killed and two firefighters were injured while responding to a blaze that had broken out as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack in the western Smolensk region.
Further north, drones struck infrastructure just outside of St. Petersburg, Governor Alexander Beglov wrote on Telegram. He said Kronstadt, a municipality that serves as a base for Russia’s Northern Fleet, was targeted in the attack.
A large column of smoke could be seen rising above the city on Wednesday morning, just as the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum opened.
The Moscow Times geolocated video footage of the morning strike to an oil and gas terminal on the southwestern side of St. Petersburg. The targeted facility is located around 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) north of the main venue for the economic forum.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 354 Ukrainian drones across Russia and in annexed Crimea between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes continued to target Ukrainian territory. In the southern Kherson region, local officials reported that a Russian drone strike killed an 86-year-old woman.
The deadly attacks on Wednesday follow major Russian strikes the previous day that left nearly a dozen people dead across Ukraine.
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