Russia, Ukraine exchange strikes as Baltic nations issue drone alerts

Several Baltic nations have issued a flurry of alerts, urging citizens to seek shelter against threats from unidentified drones, as Russia and Ukraine traded attacks. Ukrainian drones attacked Russia’s northwest, home to major Baltic Sea export facilities and a big oil refinery, setting the Ust-Luga port area on fire and injuring three, the Reuters news agency said on Wednesday.

Drone debris killed two in Russia’s Smolensk region bordering Belarus, Russian newswires reported, quoting the local governor. In Ukraine, an overnight Russian air strike knocked out power in parts of the industrial stronghold of Kryvyi Rih, injuring one person in Kharkiv, the country’s second-biggest city, and six others in Zaporizhzhia, officials and ⁠⁠⁠⁠emergency services said.

Russia’s ⁠Ministry of Defence said ⁠its forces ⁠struck a cargo vessel in the Black Sea ‌southwest of Odesa that was carrying weapons and military equipment ⁠for Ukraine’s armed ⁠forces. The ministry also said Russian ⁠drones hit ⁠three ⁠electricity substations in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih and ‌Odesa regions overnight.