April 25 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian drone hit a multi-storey apartment building in Russia’s fourth-largest city, Yekaterinburg, the regional governor said on Saturday, in the first attack on the city since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
There were no fatalities but some people suffered minor injuries and one woman was hospitalised, the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Denis Pasler, wrote on the Telegram app.
“Residents of the affected building have been evacuated,” he said. “All emergency services are working promptly.”
Video published on social media site X and verified by Reuters showed smoke pouring out of the top of a modern, high-rise building. Part of the building’s facade was heavily blackened and multiple windows were blown out.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
The drone incident in Yekaterinburg came after a major Russian overnight attack on Ukraine killed seven people and injured dozens.
Yekaterinburg, which has 1.5 million residents, is located in Russia’s Ural mountains in the Sverdlovsk region, which is home to many defence sector factories. The city is over 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
During the Ukraine conflict, which began in 2022, Russia has bombarded Ukrainian targets with artillery, drones and air strikes, while Ukraine has struck deep inside Russia with sabotage groups and drones, killing Russian generals and attacking oil refineries and oil pipelines.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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