April 15 (Reuters) – Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with hundreds of drones and three ballistic missiles, targeting port infrastructure in the south, killing one and wounding at least seven people, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia launched 324 drones in the period since 6 p.m. on Tuesday and three ballistic missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. Air defence units shot down or neutralised 309 drones, but the missiles and 13 drones hit at nine locations, it said.
“Just over the past 24 hours there were brutal attacks on Dnipro, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Chernihiv, the Donetsk region, and Zaporizhzhia,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on X, adding that cooperation to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences was a priority.
“We need air defence missiles every single day – every day the Russians continue their strikes on our cities.”
On Tuesday, Ukraine and Germany agreed defence cooperation plans and Kyiv also agreed on drone production in Norway.
WOMAN KILLED, CARS AND HOMES DAMAGED
A 74-year-old saleswoman was killed in a kiosk in a combined attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia early on Wednesday, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Fedorov said the attack also damaged a car park, business premises, and nearby residential buildings, as well as an education facility. He posted photos of a shattered metal structure, a building with broken windows and damaged cars.
Regional prosecutors said the attack, close to 5 a.m., on the city involved both drones and missiles.
Three people were injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on the southeastern city of Dnipro, the regional governor, Oleksandr Ganzha, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ganzha said the attack also damaged a nine-story apartment building and an administrative building, posting photos of a building with a gaping hole in one of its sides.
The new attack came after a missile strike on the city killed five and injured close to 30 people on Tuesday.
Four people sought medical attention after an overnight drone attack in the central city of Cherkasy, Ihor Taburets, the regional governor, said.
He added that dozens of private homes and cars were damaged.
An earlier drone attack on Tuesday killed an eight-year-old boy and injured another 14 people, Taburets has said.
Port infrastructure on the Danube in Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa came under another drone attack, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority said, adding that production and storage facilities, as well as an administrative building, were damaged.
Despite attacks, the ports continue to operate, it added.
Officials in the Kyiv region also reported a drone attack.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Jacqueline Wong; Christian Schmollinger and Alison Williams)
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