A Ukrainian drone attack on the southern city of Voronezh early Tuesday wounded at least 22 people, local officials said, as Russia's Defense Ministry reported destroying dozens of drones across multiple regions overnight.
Voronzeh region Governor Alexander Gusev said a teenager was among those wounded in the attack, with 17 people being hospitalized overall.
"Most injuries were caused by shrapnel and broken glass, though there were other types of wounds as well," Gusev wrote on Telegram. "Some quite serious: one man is in a coma, and another has sustained lung damage."
"Another woman from a rural area was also hospitalized in a Voronezh hospital with a shrapnel wound to her shoulder," the governor added.
Photos published by local media showed the shattered windows of an office and storefront, as well as glass scattered throughout the streets. In a video, a drone can be seen bursting into a fireball as it crashes into the facade of a building in the city center.
Veronika, a 27-year-old graduate student who was visiting her parents in Voronezh for the summer holidays, told The Moscow Times that she awoke to the sound of multiple explosions early Tuesday.
"It was very scary. I didn't sleep at all from 5:30 to 6:30 in the morning. I've never heard so many [explosions]. They were hellish," she said, asking to use just her first name.
"I noticed that when [Telegram news channels] first started writing about the city being attacked, I didn't see anyone blaming the Ukrainians in the comments. But by 10 a.m., there was suddenly a flood of bots in the comments, saying things like 'Zelensky should be hanged! We need to retaliate against them'," Veronika added.
However, she said she believes Voronezh residents mainly blame Russian air defenses for the destruction, as they apparently failed to intercept the drones. Veronika also noted that there have been weeks of mobile internet outages in the city center, which officials have attributed to counter-drone measures.
Voronezh resident Karina, 24, said she was annoyed by what she described as an overreaction to the attack among her friends.
"No one died! Why is everyone acting as if this [drone attack] was so unexpected? SMS alerts about the danger of attacks are sent to everyone almost every day, and you can hear the air defenses working all the time," she told The Moscow Times.
"People ask me if I'm afraid to live in this city. But I don't think a drone will ever fly into my house," Karina added.
While Voronezh has come under attack from Ukrainian forces on multiple occasions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, it has been targeted far less frequently than other major cities near the border, including Kursk and Belgorod.
Earlier, Russia's Defense Ministry said it destroyed 55 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of which were downed over the southwestern Belgorod region and Voronezh.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a child was wounded in a Russian attack on a "medical facility" in the northeastern Sumy region, officials there said.
The attacks came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had struck a deal with NATO to supply American air defense systems and weapons to Ukraine, amid growing frustration in Washington with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for rejecting a ceasefire and intensifying airstrikes.
AFP contributed reporting.
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