Russian drones kill 3 people in Ukraine, cut power to hundreds of thousands

Russian drones killed at least three people across Ukraine early on Friday, hit two shopping centres and knocked out power to around 370,000 in the northwest after strikes on the energy grid, officials said.

Two people died and 12 more were wounded in attacks on three districts of the eastern city of Kharkiv, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. He had earlier put the death toll at three.

In the northwestern region of Volyn, which borders Poland, a drone strike on a food-processing facility killed one person and wounded eight others, according to Governor Roman Romaniuk.

Crews set out to repair the damage to the grid there and had reconnected about 100,000 people by later in the morning, Romaniuk added.

The blackout could last for at least 24 hours in Volyn's regional capital, Lutsk, Mayor Andriy Razumovskyi said on Facebook.

Other attacks hit at least two shopping centres — one in the northern city of Sumy, which sits close to the front line, and one in the neighbouring region of Rivne, officials said — the latest in a spate of Russian assaults on malls and markets.

Pictures from emergency services in Sumy showed blood spattered across the floor and shots of the centre's damaged entrance.

Seven people were wounded by drones that hit a major shopping centre and other sites in Rivne, regional governor Oleksandr Koval said.