Drone fragments injure three people in Russian city

Three people suffered minor injuries after drone fragments hit a residential building in the center of the Russian city of Voronezh, close to the border with Ukraine, on Friday.

The region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, said residents in the building were injured by flying glass from broken windows in the drone strike and received help on the spot.

Russian media published photographs showing an apartment building with some of the windows broken and damage to parts of the facade, according to the US agency AP.

No reference was made to the possible origin of the drone, but the official Russian agency TASS reported that the device was flying towards the Voronezh aircraft factory and was intercepted by electronic means.

“The target of the drone strike, according to operational information, was the aircraft factory. The drone flew towards it,” a Russian security service source told TASS.

“The drone was suppressed by electronic warfare and the fragments fell into a residential building,” he added.

According to specialized websites, the Voronezh aircraft factory is one of the largest in Europe.

Founded in 1932, it has been involved in the production of some of the most important Russian aircraft, including various models by Antonov, Ilyushin, Kalinin or Tupolev.

Voronezh is located about 200 kilometers northeast of Belgorod, the Russian city near the border with Ukraine that has come under attack in recent weeks.

The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced this Friday that Russian defense shot down two air targets approaching Belgorod.

“Our air defense system worked over Belgorod. Two air targets were shot down as they approached the city,” Gladkov said on the Telegram social network, quoted by TASS.

“The operational services are clarifying the consequences on the ground”, he said, adding that, according to preliminary data, there were no victims.

Several US media reported on Thursday that Ukraine has an ongoing counter-offensive, but Kiev authorities have not confirmed the information.

Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up a dam in the south of the country on Tuesday to stop the counteroffensive, but Moscow blamed the incident on a Ukrainian attack.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, triggering an armed conflict that plunged Europe into the worst security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).