Three killed in Ukrainian drone strikes on western Russia

Three people were killed and two injured in a series of overnight Ukrainian drone strikes targeting multiple regions in western Russia, local officials said on Saturday.

In Penza, a drone struck an industrial facility, leaving one woman dead and injuring two others, regional governor Oleg Melnichenko said on Telegram.

In a separate incident in Samara, debris from a downed drone caused a fire that engulfed a house, killing an elderly man, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.

Meanwhile, in the Rostov region, a drone hit an industrial site, triggering a blaze that resulted in the death of a security guard, acting governor Yuri Sliusar reported.

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The attacks are the latest in a growing number of cross-border drone operations amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“The military repelled a massive air attack during the night,” destroying drones over seven districts, Sliusar posted on Telegram.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems had destroyed 112 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory – 34 over the Rostov region – in a nearly nine-hour period, from Friday night to Saturday morning.

Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 53 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said that air defenses shot down or jammed 45 drones.

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Eleven people were wounded in an overnight drone strike on the Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday.

The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150.

The continued attacks come after U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress.

Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made.

With inputs from agencies