Russian drones kill five people

Russian drone attacks killed five people from one family and damaged an industrial facility in Ukraine's northern and central regions, local authorities said yesterday.

A drone of Lancet type hit a residential building in the northerly Sumy region in the morning, killing a mother, her two sons and two other relatives, the regional military administration said on the Telegram messenger app.

Earlier yesterday, Ukraine's military said that Russia had launched 23 Shahed drones overnight and its air defences had destroyed all of them, including over the central Poltava region.

But the head of the regional military administration said an industrial facility caught fire after a drone attack overnight on the Kremenchuk district, where an oil refinery is located.

He did not specify the type of drones used or whether the fire was caused by falling debris from the downed weapon.

Meanwhile, protesting Polish farmers yesterday pried open two Ukrainian freight cars on the border and spilled grain on the tracks, police said, angering Kyiv and reigniting tensions between the neighbouring allies.

Polish farmers have been blocking Ukrainian trucks from entering their country to protest what they say is unfair competition from cheaper imports from their eastern neighbour, souring otherwise friendly ties between Warsaw and Kyiv.

Yesterday, the farmers launched a new wave of protests, staging a blockade of around 100 roads to the Ukrainian border as well as forcibly opening two Ukrainian railcars at the Medyka border crossing.