Moscow, 3 February 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Russia and Ukraine damaged each other's infrastructure during night-time drone and missile attacks, officials said on Saturday morning.

"A fire broke out at the Volgograd oil refinery after a drone was shot down," the governor of the Russian region, Andrey Bocharov, said in a post on Telegram. He said the fire was swiftly contained and that there had not been any deaths or injuries. The Russian Ministry of Defence said seven drones had been shot down.

Four aerial objects were intercepted over the south-west Russian region of Belgorod and one over the Rostov-on-Don region to the south, according to the military, both areas border Ukraine. Two more were shot down over the Volgograd region, the army said. No information was available on any possible damage.

Kiev said Ukraine faced night-time attacks with 14 drones and 2 Ovod missiles, Russian cruise missiles known in NATO as Kingbolt. As the previous night, energy supply sites in the industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk were the main target of the attacks.

The Ukrainian army said nine drones were intercepted. Military Governor Serhiy Lysak also reported two fires. "Almost 15,000 people are without electricity in the district. And also two heating plants in Kryvyi Rih, which supplied 43,000 people," he wrote on Telegram. Some of the city's trams were cancelled and several households also lost their water supply.

Russia has frequently fired missiles and drones at the Ukrainian hinterland, often focusing on energy supply facilities in a bid to weaken the nation through the loss of power during the winter months.

MIA file photo