At least 22 injured in huge Russian drone attacks on Ukraine

Russian forces staged huge drone attacks on eastern Ukraine late on Tuesday, triggering fires and injuring at least 22 people, regional officials said.

In the Donetsk region, the focal point of the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line in the more than three-year-old war, a residential area came under attack in the city of Kramatorsk and local officials said three people, including a child, were injured.

The Ukrainian air force said that it shot down 32 out of 55 drones launched by Russia overnight, and that another eight did not reach their targets, most likely because of electronic countermeasures.

It did not specify what happened to the remaining 15 drones.

The attack on Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine sparked a fire, damaged houses and cars and injured 15 people, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.

Half of the injured were in hospital and one woman was in serious condition. Lysak said the attack damaged four high-rise residential buildings and 15 private residences, in addition to an administrative building and infrastructure.

In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, hit by drone attacks nearly every evening over the past week, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there had been more than 20 strikes.

"This is our enemy’s new tactic to frighten the civilians. This (the attacked objects) is civilian infrastructure of the city, these are production enterprises, these are Kharkiv’s businessmen. Of course, they are scared," Terekhov told journalists at one of the attacked sites.

Governor Oleh Syniehubov said four people were injured in the city, a frequent target of Russian assaults. The attack damaged multiple residential buildings and storage facilities, in addition to other buildings, he said.