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HANDOUT - This photo posted by Saratov region governor Roman Busargin on his official Telegram channel on August 26, 2024 shows a damaged building after a drone attack on the town of Engels in the Saratov region. Photo: Uncredited/Saratov region governor Roman Busargin official Telegram channel/AP/dpa
Keystone
According to the regional administration, the southern Russian cities of Saratov and Engels have been the target of the largest drone attack since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. More than 30 houses were damaged in the night-time attack, the governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, announced on Telegram. All emergency services had been mobilized. At least one woman was injured.
According to Busargin, residents in Engels were brought to safety due to fires at the military airfield. A state of emergency was declared for the district of Engels, according to district chief Maxim Leonov.
Eyewitnesses reported several explosions in Engels on Russian telegram channels, including another explosion at an oil refinery. There was no official confirmation of this. The military airport, which Ukraine has already shelled several times, is also said to have been a target. According to official information, traffic at the civilian airports in Saratov and Engels was also temporarily suspended.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had previously announced that more than 130 Ukrainian drones had been shot down in various regions of the country during the night - more than 50 of them in Saratov, 40 in Voronezh and dozens more in the Belgorod, Rostov, Kursk and Lipetsk regions. The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed back in 2014, was also affected.
Massive drone strikes also against Ukraine
In the morning, Ukraine reported ten casualties, including four children, in the town of Kropyvnytskyi in the Kirovohrad region in the center of the country. Civil defense forces reported damage to residential buildings. According to the Ukrainian air defense, a total of 171 drone attacks were carried out against the country. 75 unmanned flying objects were shot down, 63 did not reach their target.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the new air strikes. They also showed Russia's attitude towards peace, he wrote on the short message service X. Selensky repeatedly accuses Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin of having no interest in ending the war.
Under the mediation of US President Donald Trump, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to temporarily cease attacks on each other's energy facilities. However, the minimum compromise is to be limited to targets of this kind; the date of entry into force is unclear. US representatives are holding further talks with the warring parties. Both countries repeatedly attack each other with combat drones, with the civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure in Ukraine being far greater than in Russia.
20.03.2025, 12:00
