Ukrainian Drone Attacks Kill Three Utility Workers in Russian-Held Donetsk Region, Moscow-Installed Governor Says
A Ukrainian drone strike killed three utility workers in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region on Thursday, the Moscow-installed governor said, in the latest incident of civilian casualties as the war grinds into its third year.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the Donetsk People's Republic, said on Telegram that a repair crew for the local water supply company was traveling in a car in the town of Vuhlehirsk, north of the city of Donetsk, when the vehicle was hit by drones. Three workers died immediately, and a fourth was seriously wounded and taken to a hospital.
Pushilin added that four other civilians were injured in separate drone-related incidents in other areas of the region under Russian control. He did not provide further details.
The claims could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the incident. Both sides regularly report civilian casualties in areas near the front line, often blaming the other for indiscriminate attacks.
Russian forces have been making incremental advances in Donetsk since capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, but Ukrainian officials say their troops have stabilized the front in recent weeks and even regained some positions. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier this month that Kyiv's forces are now in their strongest defensive posture along the roughly 1,200-kilometer (775-mile) front line in months.
Pushilin acknowledged in March that Ukrainian forces still control about 17% of the Donetsk region, which Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022 along with three other Ukrainian provinces. Russia has repeatedly called on Ukraine to surrender its remaining holdouts in Donetsk, a demand Kyiv has rejected outright.
In a separate development, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its troops captured the village of Novovasylivka in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow has been trying to establish a buffer zone along the border since launching a new offensive in May.
Meanwhile, drone attacks extended deeper into Russian territory. In the Volgograd region of southern Russia, Governor Andrei Bocharov said anti-aircraft units were repelling a large-scale drone assault. An apartment building was hit, and energy infrastructure was targeted, though no casualties were reported. The Yaroslavl region, northeast of Moscow, also came under drone fire, prompting authorities to temporarily suspend traffic toward the capital, Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said on Telegram.
Both Volgograd and Yaroslavl host major oil refining facilities, which Ukraine has frequently targeted in an effort to disrupt Russia's energy revenues and pressure Moscow to end the conflict, now in its 28th month.
On the Ukrainian side of the border, Bryansk region's acting Governor Yegor Kovalchuk reported that a Ukrainian drone strike on a village killed one person. The claim could not be confirmed independently.
In a related cross-border incident, a Russian drone crashed onto the roof of an apartment block early Friday in the Romanian city of Galati, injuring two people, Romanian authorities said. The incident, which occurred during a large-scale Russian overnight attack on Ukraine, highlighted the risk of spillover into neighboring NATO member states.