Ukraine’s drone attack sparks brief fire at Krasnodar power substation, Russia says

(Reuters) -Falling debris from a destroyed Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at a power substation in the town of Kropotkin that was promptly extinguished, the administration of the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said on Monday.

“Preliminary reports indicate no injuries,” the administration said on the Telegram messaging app.

The full scale of the attack and potential damage was not immediately known. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Several southern and southwestern Russian regions were under air raid alerts for hours at a time overnight, according to information published on official regional Telegram channels.

Flight operations at several airports, including in Saratov and Volgograd, were halted for several hours to ensure air safety, Russia’s civil aviation body Rosaviatsia said on Telegram.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv says its strikes inside Russia target infrastructure that is critical for Moscow’s overall war efforts. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched in February 2022.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)