Kindergartens damaged in Ukrainian drone attack on Russia (PHOTOS)
A Ukrainian drone raid injured seven people in the Russian city of Novorossiysk overnight and caused extensive damage on the ground, including to kindergartens, local officials reported on Wednesday.
Five of the seven victims were hospitalized, though none are in life-threatening condition, the regional Health Ministry said. Mayor Andrey Kravchenko visited a 15-year-old boy and a 67-year-old woman being treated at the main city hospital, according to his Telegram updates.
Kravchenko said more than 100 residential buildings, including 41 apartment blocks, had been damaged by Ukrainian drones, along with civilian infrastructure such as three kindergartens. A drone also struck a cemetery, damaging tombstones and a military monument honoring Soviet soldiers killed in World War II.
The attack also targeted a fuel terminal at the local port, where emergency services extinguished a resulting fire. Ukrainian military sources claim the terminal is used to refuel Russian warships.
Novorossiysk, a port city in Krasnodar Region, serves as a backup base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and also handles commercial cargo, including crude oil exports from Kazakhstan via a pipeline operated by an international consortium.
Kiev has admitted that previous Ukrainian attacks on Novorossiysk port infrastructure drew a formal rebuke from the US Department of State, as the disruption of crude supplies affected the American co-owners of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported intercepting 172 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 133 over the Black Sea and Krasnodar Region.
