Russia strikes Dnipro clinic, 2 dead

KYIV: Russian forces struck a building housing psychological and veterinary clinics in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, killing at least two people and wounding 30, including two children, Kyiv officials said.

This came as Russia’s southern Belgorod region came under fresh attack by Ukrainian forces, authorities there said, hours after two drones struck a Russian city in an area next to the annexed Crimea Peninsula.

Video released by Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipro region, showed fire engulfing the threestory building that appeared almost destroyed, with only parts of a wall standing, as firefighters battled the flames.

Meanwhile, a Russian S-300 missile hit a dam in the Karlivka district of eastern Donetsk province, threatening to flood settlements nearby.

In Russia, the town of Graivoron in Belgorod, about 7 kilometers (more than 4 miles) from the Ukrainian border, came under artillery, mortar and drone assault for several hours, damaging four houses, a store, a car, a gas pipeline and a power line, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Closer to the frontier, a recreation center, a shop and an empty house were damaged in the village of Glotovo. One woman was wounded when nearby Novaya Tavolzhanka was shelled, Gladkov said.

Earlier this week, Belgorod was the target of one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago. Details of the raid were murky. Russia blamed the Ukrainian armed forces, but two Russian groups said they were involved, with the aim of bringing down Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Officials in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, in the region of the same name bordering Crimea, said two drones struck there. Witnesses told local media they heard something like the sound of a moped and then two explosions.

The blasts smashed a hole in the roof of one building and blew out windows in an apartment building.

Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the Krasnodar region, wrote on Telegram that there were no casualties and that some buildings were damaged, but essential infrastructure was unharmed.

Krasnodar Mayor Yevgeny Naumov said a residential building and an office building were damaged.

Drone attacks against Russian border regions have been a regular occurrence since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, with attacks increasing last month. Earlier this month, an oil refinery in Krasnodar was attacked by drones for two straight days.

Concerns downplayed

At a meeting in Estonia, German and Baltic leaders played down concerns about fighting spilling over into Russia.

“Russia attacked Ukraine, and so Ukraine can defend itself,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “It is clear that the weapons we have delivered will only be used on Ukrainian territory.”

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said “Ukraine does not have any wish to invade Russia,” while Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said: “I’m somewhat puzzled by the worry of Russia, because Russia is at war — so it’s quite strange to think that the war can only be in that other territory that you invaded.”

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Thursday published video that appeared to show a marine drone heading for Russia’s Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship in the Black Sea. The video didn’t show the drone hitting the ship.

The video followed reports by Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday that Ukraine had launched an unsuccessful attack on the Ivan Khurs using three unmanned speedboats, with all three destroyed prior to reaching the ship. Moscow released video allegedly showing the destruction of one of the marine drones.

At least two civilians were killed and three others wounded in Russian attacks on Ukraine in the previous 24 hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office reported on Friday.

On Friday night, officials in the Russian-held part of Donetsk reported two missile strikes on Mariupol, where a monthslong siege early in the war left much of the city in ruins.

Russia’s state news agency Tass cited an unnamed official as saying the missiles were longrange Storm Shadows, which the United Kingdom delivered to Ukraine this month.