Russia, Ukraine trade accusations after overnight attacks kill 6

Russia and Ukraine on Thursday renewed their accusations concerning overnight attacks against each other, which have killed at least six people since last night.

Ulyanovsk Governor Aleksey Russkikh said in a statement on Telegram that a fuel and energy facility in the Russian region’s Novospassky district was targeted in a drone attack.

“There are no casualties or injuries. Emergency services are working at the scene,” the regional government’s press service later told Russian state news agency RIA.

In the country’s southwestern city of Voronezh, a 3-year-old boy died, and his parents were injured after a drone fell in the city suburbs, resulting in a fire in a private house, according to Governor Aleksandr Gusev.

Gusev said that, in the same municipality, a 19-year-old man was slightly injured but did not require hospitalization.

Meanwhile, Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea -- which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014 -- said that two people were killed and five others injured due to overnight attacks.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its air defenses shot down 223 Ukrainian drones overnight across 17 regions, as well as over the Sea of Azov and Crimea.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented on Russia’s claims.

The Russian Defense Ministry further claimed that Russia's military continued to launch group strikes in Ukraine, hitting port infrastructure “used for unloading and storing military cargo” in the southern port of Odesa, as well as a workshop and warehouse in Odesa city.

Serhii Lysak, the head of the Odesa City Military Administration, announced that none were injured as infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian city was damaged, along with several cars, an office building, and the windows of private houses following overnight Russian attacks.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service also reported attacks in the country’s Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Sumy.

Later Thursday, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said that at least three people were killed and 19 others injured in the city of Pavlohrad due to a Russian attack on a food processing plant.

Separately, Ukraine’s Air Force claimed that the country’s air defenses downed 156 out of 168 drones launched by Moscow overnight. It added that one Iskander-M ballistic missile was also used during this period.