MOSCOW/KYIV — A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said on Sunday, as thousands of residents in Kyiv remained without electricity following an intense Russian bombardment.
Voronezh regional governor Alexander Gusev said a young woman died overnight in intensive care after debris from a downed drone fell on a house during Saturday’s attack.
He said three others were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private homes, and a high school were damaged, adding that Russian air defenses shot down 17 drones over the city.
Voronezh, which has a population of just over one million, lies about 250 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The strike followed a massive Russian attack on Ukraine overnight into Friday, during which Moscow launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia also used a powerful new hypersonic missile for only the second time in the nearly four-year war, striking western Ukraine in what Kyiv described as a warning to Ukraine and NATO.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said on Sunday that about 30,000 people in Kyiv were still without power following the attack.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Friday that nearly half of the city’s apartment buildings were left without heating as daytime temperatures hovered around minus 8 degrees Celsius.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that talks with the United States were continuing on how to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses in the event of a future peace deal.
He said chief negotiator Rustem Umerov remained in contact with U.S. counterparts.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia launched 154 drones overnight into Sunday, with 125 intercepted by air defenses.
Separately, Ukraine’s military intelligence said Russia has begun deploying a new jet-powered “Geran-5” strike drone, a variant of the Iranian-designed Shahed, capable of carrying a 90-kilogram warhead with a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers. — Agencies