Russia’s attacks spark petrol station fire, injure several in Ukraine, officials say

(Reuters) – Overnight attacks by Russia sparked a fire at a petrol station in Zaporizhzhia, injured at least eight people and damaged houses across the southeastern part of Ukraine, regional officials said on Monday.

No one was injured in the petrol station fire that followed a drone attack on the region, Ivan Fedorov, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said in a post on Telegram. He posted a photo of large flames consuming a structure at night.

The U.S. in late March said it reached agreement with Russia and Ukraine on two ceasefire accords, including one that would ban strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratoriums.

It was not immediately clear whether the petrol station in Zaporizhzhia was a target of the attack or whether the fire was sparked by falling debris from a destroyed drone.

There was no comment from Russia, and Reuters could not independently verify Fedorov’s report.

Seven people were injured in a Russian drone attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa that also damaged several homes and a medical facility late on Sunday, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said in a post on Telegram.

A 53-year-old man was injured in the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region in heavy artillery shelling by Russia, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.

The full scale of the overnight attacks was not clear. Ukraine’s air force reports data on attacks usually late in the morning.

The attacks came a day after two Russian ballistic missiles slammed into the heart of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing 34 people and wounding 117 in the deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, officials said.

There were no comments from Moscow about any of the attacks. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia started with a full-scale invasion on its smaller neighbour more than three years ago.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Sonali Paul)