Drone crashes into building in Russia’s Voronezh city; 3 injured

Three people were lightly wounded after a drone crashed into a residential building in Russia’s Voronezh city, the regional governor said.

The Voronezh oblast in southwest Russia partly borders Ukraine.The latest drone attack to target Russian cities in recent weeks comes as Ukraine has been intensifying its efforts to expel Russian forces from a vast swath of southern and eastern Ukraine that they invaded more than 15 months ago on orders from President Vladimir Putin.

In a Telegram post, regional Governor Alexander Gusev said the three residents were hurt by shards of glass from broken windows, and received help on the spot.

Russian state media published photos showing a high-rise apartment building with some windows blown out and damage to the facade.

Such drone strikes – which have previously hit residential areas in southern Krasnodar and even one at the Kremlin – along with cross-border raids in southwestern Russia, have exposed glaring breaches in Russian air defences and porous border security.

Kyiv withholds comment on reports of attacks inside Russia.

Separately on Friday, the Ukrainian presidency’s website posted a video statement overnight from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that alluded to the latest efforts of his country’s forces, along various parts of the more than 1,000-kilometre (about 620-mile) front line.

Zelenskyy, speaking in what appeared to be a selfie video from inside a train carriage after visiting flood-hit southern Ukraine, said he was in touch with Ukrainian forces “in all the hottest areas” of the fight and praised an unspecified “result” from their efforts.

Ukrainian authorities have kept quiet about their latest military moves, refusing to join in on rising commentary from Western military experts and others that a long-anticipated counteroffensive was under way.“At our end, we hear that Ukraine’s armed forces have been striking in several parts of the front over the course of five days, and the Russian side says it is not possible for Ukraine to achieve any success,” journalist Yulia Shapovalova told Al Jazeera from Moscow.

In Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said Ukrainian officials “will not confirm whether their summer offensive has begun. They will not confirm whether these are the preparatory stages to it. They simply say they will not be providing a running commentary.”