Russia and Ukraine trade drone strikes, with injuries on both sides

Russia and Ukraine exchanged overnight drone strikes on energy and logistics sites on Thursday, 5 November, leaving people injured on both sides. Russia's Defence Ministry said it hit a terminal of Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private delivery company, plus a power substation and a cargo ship. Ukrainian drones, for their part, set off fires in an industrial zone in Ryazan, a Russian city about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of Moscow.

What Russia says it hit

The ministry said on Telegram that the Nova Poshta terminal in Novyi Korotych village near Kharkiv, a 330-kilovolt substation in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a dry cargo ship carrying military equipment had been struck. The ship was in the Black Sea, 52 km (32 miles) southwest of the port of Odesa. Ukrainian officials did not immediately confirm the strikes on the postal terminal or the vessel. Moscow says the logistics sites it targets serve the Ukrainian military. Nova Poshta facilities have been hit repeatedly, including a sorting centre in Kyiv in August, where three people died.

Damage in Ukraine

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russia attacked the city and 17 settlements in the region over the past day with more than 80 drones, injuring six people, including a child. In the Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said Russian attacks on Wednesday killed four civilians and injured five, with two deaths each in Serhiivka and Yasnohirka. Local outlet Novosti Donbasu reported that the two killed in Yasnohirka were women, hit when two glide bombs struck the village. Russian drones also caused large fires in the Bucha district near Kyiv, targeting a logistics centre and injuring one person.

The attack on Ryazan

Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said more than 200 Ukrainian drones attacked the region overnight. Falling debris started fires at several industrial sites and damaged power lines, cutting electricity to parts of the city; one person was injured. He later said power was restored and the fires had been put out or contained. He did not name the sites, but footage verified by the independent Russian outlet Astra showed a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery, owned by state energy company Rosneft.

Al Jazeera's Moscow correspondent said Ukraine had stepped up strikes on Russian refineries after a brief pause in late October. In Kyiv, Russian attacks on the power grid have caused rolling blackouts since mid-October, and some residents have gone days without electricity and water.