A Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka today hit a local supermarket and left at least two people dead and 17 injured, according to a report by the Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region.
"Two dead and 17 wounded: this is the latest information at 12:40 [10:40 in Lisbon] about the attack on Kostiantynivka," wrote Vadym Filachkin on Telegram, specifying that rescue operations are continuing and that there is a possibility of more victims.
Initially, the governor had reported seven wounded.
Kostiantynivka, an industrial city with around 67,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion, is located around 13 kilometers from the front.
The Russian attack comes shortly after a Ukrainian drone offensive, which Kiev has already taken over, caused a fire at a military base in Russia's Lipetsk region, 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, the regional governor, Igor Artamonov, said today.
"The detonation of explosive objects took place far from civilian buildings. All emergency services are at the scene," Artamonov wrote on the Telegram messaging platform.
Hours earlier, the regional Emergency Management Ministry had indicated that "a fire was underway at a military airfield in the Lipetsk region".
Initially the local authorities, quoted by the official Russian news agencies Tass and Ria Novosti, did not specify whether the fire was due to a Ukrainian attack.
Artamonov said that Lipetsk was "the target of a massive drone attack", which caused at least six injuries, adding that the Ukrainian attack damaged a power station.
Another attack by Ukrainian drones was reported in the Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border.
According to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, Russian air defenses shot down 29 drones and the attack caused material damage but no injuries.
Also in the city of Sebastopol, on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, Governor Mikhail Razvojaïev announced attacks by air and sea drones.
The Kursk region, which neighbors the Lipetsk municipality and borders Ukraine, has been facing an armed Ukrainian incursion since Tuesday.
More than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers and dozens of armored vehicles are involved in the attack, which was launched by surprise, said the Russian General Staff, which said it was doing everything it could to repel them.
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has caused, according to the latest UN data, the worst refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion - justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin by the need to demilitarize Ukraine for Russia's security - has been condemned by the international community in general, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
