(Reuters) – Debris from a downed drone killed a civilian in the Odesa region, the governor of the southern Ukrainian region said on Sunday, after Ukraine’s air force said it had destroyed 20 drones that Russia launched overnight.
Air defence systems destroyed nine Iran-made attack drones over Odesa, Governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app, calling it the third Russian air assault on the region in the past week.
“However, one of the downed drones fell into a residential area in Odesa district and exploded,” Kiper said, adding that several houses were damaged and one person was found dead in one of them afterwards.
The air force said its defence systems destroyed a cruise missile in addition to the drones. It said, without providing details, that Russia also launched an Iskander ballistic missile that “did not reach” its target.
The Russian air weapons were destroyed over Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Khmelnitskyi regions, the air force said.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. It was not clear how many drones Russia launched in total.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by William Mallard)
