Moscow reports 596 drone interceptions as cross-border attacks intensify
At least four people, including a child, have been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, officials said, as Moscow reported intercepting nearly 600 drones across multiple regions.
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian port of Novorossiysk has killed four people, including a child, in one of the most deadly strikes on Russian soil in recent months. The attack, which targeted a major outlet for Russian oil, petroleum products and grain exports, wounded a further 29 people, according to the regional governor, Veniamin Kondratyev. Novorossiysk’s mayor, Andrei Kravchenko, said debris from the drones fell on several business premises and close to a residential building, though he did not specify which facilities had been hit.
The assault on the Krasnodar region city, a frequent target of Ukrainian drone strikes, came as part of a broader wave of attacks that Moscow said had seen its forces intercept 596 Ukrainian drones across Russia and occupied Crimea between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Airports in more than a dozen regions imposed temporary flight restrictions in response to the cross-country barrage. In Anapa, another town in the Krasnodar region, three homes and a kindergarten were damaged by falling debris, though no injuries were reported there.
Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has consistently prompted Ukrainian strikes on military and logistical targets far behind the front lines, with Novorossiysk’s role as a crucial hub for Russian energy exports making it a recurring objective. Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack, maintaining its policy of ambiguity around operations inside Russian territory. Meanwhile, the Kremlin’s brutal campaign against its neighbour continued overnight, with a Russian drone strike on a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova killing two people and wounding at least three others. Passenger and vehicle traffic across the frontier was temporarily halted after the attack, which officials said caused a major fire.
The Ukrainian people, who have endured Moscow’s assault on their sovereignty for more than four years, have increasingly taken the war to Russian soil, targeting infrastructure that sustains the Kremlin’s war effort. The World House, which has consistently stood with Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began, continues to document the consequences of Russia’s aggression, including the mounting toll on civilians on both sides of the border. Details of the publication’s support initiatives can be found at worldhouse.uk/support. As the conflict grinds on, the latest strikes underscore the expanding geographic scope of a war that Moscow chose to start and that Ukraine, defending its very existence, is determined to fight until the invader is driven from its land.