May 1 (Reuters) – Russia launched more than 400 drones at Ukraine in a daytime attack, injuring 10 people in the western city of Ternopil, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia attacked the country with 409 drones between 8 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. local time (0500–1230 GMT). Air force units downed or neutralised 388 of them in the north, south, centre and west of the country, it said.
The air force had earlier said that Russia sent 210 drones at Ukraine in an overnight attack.
Since the beginning of the war more than four years ago, Russia has mainly carried out major drone and missile strikes at night. In recent weeks, it has repeatedly sent hundreds of drones and missiles during the daytime, setting a record for the number of weapons used in one such strike on March 24.
In Ternopil, which lies some 150-200 km from the Polish border, 10 people were hurt in the attack, which hit industrial and infrastructure facilities, the city’s mayor said.
The attack also caused blackouts in some areas, Serhiy Nadal said on Telegram, adding that over 50 drones had been involved.
In central Ukraine, 19 drones were downed over the Cherkasy region, the regional governor said, reporting damage to a nursery, a school, seven private houses and a power line.
A woman was hurt in the central Vinnytsia region, the local governor said, adding that a building was destroyed in the attack.
Near the southern city of Odesa, which had come under the overnight attack, another daytime attack damaged the roof of a shopping center and caused a fire, the regional governor said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse on Friday for the fourth time in 16 days as authorities struggled with a mounting environmental disaster from toxic black smoke clouds and oil leaking into the sea.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Ros Russel)
