Ukrainian drones hit a historical museum in Sevastopol, Crimea, which was annexed by Russia, local authorities reported on Wednesday, adding that they have reduced the number of night trains due to increasingly intense air attacks.
The museum was opened in memory of the Crimean War (1853-1856) between the Russian Empire and a coalition that included the Ottoman Empire. Russia was defeated in that war.
The governor of Sevastopol, a Russian-appointed official, Mikhail Razvozhaev, announced on Telegram that the museum's roof was on fire, but did not provide details on damage or potential casualties. "The enemy will pay for this sacrilege!" Razvozhaev said in a post on Wednesday morning.
In other areas of Crimea, authorities shortened the night timetable, said Russian-appointed governor of the peninsula Sergei Aksyonov on Telegram, after a train driver was injured and his assistant killed in a drone attack this week.
The Black Sea peninsula Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, is facing fuel shortages after recent drone attacks, just as the holiday season begins.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week proposed direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he rejected. After the train incident, the Kremlin said Ukraine was undermining efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
At the same time, the city of Novokuybyshevsk in Russia's Samara region, a major oil center on the Volga River that houses several refineries run by state-owned oil giant Rosneft, managed to repel drone attacks, said the regional governor.
Authorities called on residents of Samara, a city of one million, to seek shelter as public transport was suspended amid air raid warnings, local media reported.
Ukraine's continued attacks on Russian energy infrastructure have forced Moscow to reduce oil production, the third largest in the world.
In southern Russia's Rostov region, which borders Ukraine, drone debris caused a fire in a fuel tank at a civilian site, and in the central Vladimir region two industrial facilities caught fire, regional governors said on Telegram.
In remote Russian oil-producing regions such as Khanty-Mansiysk, Perm, and Tyumen, as well as the industrial regions of Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk in the Ural Mountains, thousands of kilometers from Ukraine, air raid warnings were issued, local authorities announced on social media.
During the night, Russia shot down 326 Ukrainian drones, of which more than a dozen were heading towards Moscow, the Defense Ministry and Moscow's mayor reported on social media.
Reuters was unable to verify the information from independent sources.
