In this handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Emergency Service on October 1, 2023 smoke rises above an industrial facility following a drone attack in Uman, Cherkasy region. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP)
MOSCOW, Russia – Russia was targeted by another wave of Ukrainian drones and shelling on Sunday, wounding three people and forcing an airport to divert flights, officials said.
Since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June, Russian regions have accused Kyiv’s armed forces of almost daily drone strikes and shelling on civilian targets.
“On Sunday morning, the armed forces of Ukraine shelled the area of the central market in Shebekino,” said Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.
“According to preliminary information, there are three victims — a woman suffered shrapnel wounds to the neck… Two other men suffered shrapnel wounds to their legs,” he said.
The governor of Bryansk region, also on the border, said Ukrainian shelling of a village damaged houses and two administrative buildings but that there were no casualties.
The attacks came as officials said five drones were shot down over the region of Smolensk, west of Moscow, while another was shot down over Krasnodar region on the Black Sea coast.
“On the morning of 1 October, Sochi airport imposed a temporary flight restriction. Six flights were diverted to alternate aerodromes,” Sochi airport said.
The Crimea bridge, which connects the Moscow-annexed peninsula to the Russian mainland, also briefly closed on Sunday for undisclosed reasons.
Last week, Ukraine claimed responsibility for a missile attack that struck the headquarters of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea, marking a major blow for the Kremlin.