A Russian drone strike severely damaged a hotel in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, the governor of the broader Mykolaiv region said, and Russia's RIA news agency reported that the hotel housed Russian-speaking mercenaries. Englishmen who were fighting in Ukraine.
This attack comes hours after the Russian army bombed several power plants in Ukrainian territory, which represents an escalation of the conflict. In addition, the Kremlin claims to have already shot down nearly a hundred drones launched by Kyiv this weekend.
"The enemy attacked the city with an unmanned aerial vehicle of the 'Shahed-131/136' type," Mykolaiv Governor Vitaly Kim said on the Telegram messaging app about the attack on the hotel.
"As a result, a hotel building was severely damaged, a fire broke out which was quickly extinguished... There are no casualties."
Kim and Ukraine's State Emergency Service said the Russian attack also damaged windows at a nearby hotel and heat-generating infrastructure was damaged.
Russia's state news agency RIA, citing Russian underground fighters in the region, said Russian forces attacked a shipbuilding plant and a hotel in Mykolaiv where English-speaking mercenaries fighting in Ukraine were staying.
The Ukrainian Air Force also said Sunday on its Telegram account, without giving details, that its forces destroyed a drone launched by Russia over Mykolaiv.
The air force said four other drones launched by Russia were destroyed over the region around the capital kyiv, the central regions of Vinnytsia and Kirovohrad, and over the western Khmelnytskyi region.
This Sunday, Russia's air defense systems destroyed 17 drones launched by Ukraine over its territory, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
Nine of the drones were destroyed on the territory of the Bryansk region, three in the Kursk region, two in the Belgorod region and three in the Kaluga region, the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
