DRONE HITS TAVRIA SUPERMARKET IN UKRAINE'S ODESA REGION

A drone struck a supermarket in the town of Mayaky, in Ukraine's Odesa region, on Thursday. Closed-circuit television footage verified by the BBC shows the drone flying into the roof of the Tavria supermarket before exploding on impact. Ukrainian authorities said the aircraft was a Russian jet-powered drone. President Volodymyr Zelensky said three people were injured in the strike and blamed Russia for it. A separate account from Ukrainian authorities gave a higher figure, saying at least four people were injured and that the strike sparked a major fire at the site.

Mayaky lies in the Odesa region, in southern Ukraine on the Black Sea coast. The verified footage shows the drone hitting the supermarket's roof directly, with an explosion following immediately on impact. Ukrainian authorities said the blast also caused a significant fire at the premises. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and is now in its fifth year. The exact number of casualties from the strike differs between the figures given by Zelensky and those attributed to Ukrainian authorities.

Zelensky directly blamed Russia for the attack on the supermarket. Neither account includes a response from Russian authorities to the allegation. The strike adds to a continuing pattern of drone and missile attacks reported in Ukrainian regions during the war. The BBC said its verification process confirmed the drone's flight path into the building before the explosion. No further details on the condition of those injured, or on any Ukrainian military response, were included in the reports.