Russian aerial attack kills 3, wounds 18 in Dnipro

A Russian drone and missile barrage on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed three people and wounded over a dozen more, the regional governor said Wednesday.

Russian forces have targeted the industrial city and surrounding region persistently since launching their invasion in February in 2022.

"The enemy is continuing insidious attacks," the regional governor Sergiy Lysak said, announcing three were killed.

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He also said that 18 people were wounded, including a 14-year-old girl.

The head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council described the barrage as "massive" and posted images showing buildings ripped open by the attack and shattered glass strewn across the ground.

"This is what one of the city's shopping centres looks like now. Cars and windows were smashed, and a petrol station was hit. All the consequences are still being investigated," Mykola Lukashuk said.

Dnipro had a pre-war population of around one million people and lies about 100 kilometres from the near point along the southern front line.

More than 40 people were killed in a Russian strike on Dnipro in January 2023, in one of the single-worst aerial bombardments by Russian forces.

Separately, officials in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv said two civilians had been killed in overnight Russian attacks.

Russia destroys Ukrainian naval drones

Russia said Wednesday it had destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones that were advancing on its Black Sea port of Novorossiysk overnight.

Ukrainian naval drones have sunk several Russian ships in the Black Sea, but strikes as far east as Novorossiysk are rare.

"Two unmanned boats travelling in the direction of Novorossiysk were destroyed in the waters of the Black Sea," Russia's defence ministry said in a post on Telegram.

The major port city lies on Russia's southeastern coast, 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The route from Ukrainian-held territory to the port is at least 500 kilometres (300 miles) through the Black Sea, around the southern tip of Crimea.

After a spate of successful Ukrainian strikes on Russian ships in the Black Sea, satellite images revealed Moscow pulled its Black Sea fleet out of its historic base in Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, which is harder for Ukraine to hit.

The defence ministry published footage of what it said was the naval drones being destroyed.

It showed several bright rounds being fired into the sea at night from multiple directions, several hitting the waters next to a small craft before an explosion and fire break out.

Kyiv has heavily targeted Crimea since Russia launced its full-scale military offensive in February 2022, including multiple attacks and attempted strikes on the Kerch bridge, a vital road and rail route linking the peninsula to Russia.