A Russian rocket attack killed three people and wounded at least seven others in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, which is near Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said.
The number of victims could rise in the attack, which damaged a residential area, regional Governor Yuriy Malashko said on Telegram.
The city lies about 50 kilometres northeast of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the early weeks of the war. Shelling in the plant's surroundings have raised persistent fears of a nuclear accident.
In Russia, an explosion on the grounds of a factory that makes optical equipment for Russia's security forces north of Moscow killed one person, wounded 60 others and left at least eight people missing, officials said.
Russian officials did not provide a suspected cause of the explosion in the city of Sergiev Posad, which produced a tall plume of black smoke and added to jitters over recent night-time drone attacks on Moscow.
Earlier, officials said Russian air defences shot down two drones aimed at the capital overnight, and they accused Ukraine of an attempted attack.
Russian officials described the downed drones as Ukraine’s latest attempt to strike the Russian capital in an alleged campaign to unnerve Muscovites and take the war in Ukraine to Russia.
The drones were intercepted on their approach to Moscow and there were no casualties, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. The Russian Defence Ministry described the incident as a “terrorist attack.”
One of the drones came down in the Domodedovo district south of Moscow, and the other fell near the Minsk highway west of the city, according to Sobyanin. Moscow Domodedovo Airport is one of the Russian capital's busiest airports.
It wasn't clear where the drones were launched, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. Ukraine usually neither confirms nor denies such attacks.
In another incident that caused alarm, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying that a thick plume of smoke billowed over Sevastopol, the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the smoke came from a “fleet training exercise” and urged local residents not to worry.
Those incidents occurred against the backdrop of Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long slog against the Kremlin’s deeply entrenched forces.
Russia is pushing back against the Ukrainians in eastern areas, where tough battles are taking place, Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, said Wednesday on her official Telegram channel.
“In some parts of the front-line multiple changes in position take place within a day,” she said.
She claimed that Ukraine’s efforts had achieved “partial success” in the south. She gave no details.
It wasn't possible to independently verify either side’s claims.
