Russian drones strike Kyiv school, pupils escape unhurt

Russian drones smashed into a school in Kyiv and set it ablaze on Thursday morning, but all pupils were in a ‌shelter at the time and no injuries were reported, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said. A bridge over the Dnipro River was also struck in Russia's intensifying attacks on the city, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The Southern Bridge did not suffer major damage but metro traffic over it was temporarily halted.

At the school, ‌rescue workers picked through debris near the charred building, whose windows were shattered. CCTV footage verified by Reuters showed a bright fireball erupting ‌after the drone slammed into the building's third floor. "Russian scumbags continue attacking life across our country, Ukrainian children, and our schools," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X. "Russia must be held fully accountable for this and receive a response to its strikes."

The attacks were part of round-the-clock airstrikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in which Russia has been using jet-powered drones, which ⁠Ukraine ​has struggled to shoot down because of ⁠a lack of air defences. On Wednesday, Russian forces unleashed what Ukrainian officials described as the start of a cold-weather strike campaign against Ukraine's power grid.

The strikes represent an escalation aimed ⁠at exploiting Ukraine's air-defence weakness, political analyst Vadym Denysenko wrote on Facebook. The Institute of Nuclear Research in Kyiv said in a statement that it had been struck by ​a drone late on Wednesday, but that radiation levels remained normal.

On Monday, a Russian drone smashed into the National Academy of Sciences in ⁠downtown Kyiv, killing one and wounding several others. STRIKE ON ODESA

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has intensified airstrikes as its overall frontline advances have slowed this year. One ⁠person ​was wounded on Thursday in a Russian attack on a business centre in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, regional officials said.

City administration chief Serhiy Lysak said infrastructure had been damaged but gave no further details. Odesa and the surrounding region have been a frequent target of attacks ⁠aimed partly at choking Kyiv's export revenues.

Russia, which says it strikes only military targets, reported that it had attacked a data centre in ⁠Odesa and a cargo vessel in the ⁠nearby port of Chornomorsk. Ukraine has also stepped up attacks on Russia, striking oil refineries and major online retailers to try to undermine Moscow's war effort.

One man was killed when a Ukrainian drone exploded in the town of ‌Graivoron in Russia's Belgorod ‌region, local authorities said on Thursday. (Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Olena Harmash ​and Gleb Garanich; Editing by Timothy Heritage)