A drone crashed into a residential high-rise in the Russian city of Ryazan overnight amid a wave of reported drone attacks across several regions of the country.
The Moscow Times on January 16 reported that Ryazan regional Governor Pavel Malkov said two people were injured in the incident but did not require hospital treatment.
He said the facades of two apartment buildings were damaged, adding that one of the buildings had recently been constructed and had no residents at the time. Malkov described the incident as a “terrorist attack.”
Residents reported hearing explosions during the night. According to a Russian opposition outlet, Astra, the drone struck around the 18th floor of a 26-storey building in the Otkritye residential complex.
Malkov also said drone debris fell at the site of an industrial facility, but he did not identify the location. A nearby oil refinery is believed to have been the intended target.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defense systems intercepted 22 Ukrainian drones over the Ryazan region overnight.
The ministry added that a total of 106 drones were destroyed across nine Russian regions and annexed Crimea, including Belgorod, Rostov, Voronezh, Kursk, Tula, Volgograd, Oryol, and Lipetsk.
Russian Strikes Leave Ukraine Facing Energy Emergency
On January 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a state of emergency in the country’s energy sector after repeated Russian attacks left thousands of homes without heat and electricity during freezing winter conditions.
The declaration comes as temperatures in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, dropped to minus 19 degrees Celsius (minus 2.2 Fahrenheit). Hundreds of apartment buildings in the city remain without heating following a large-scale Russian strike last week.
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Zelenskyy said he has instructed the government to review curfew restrictions due to the extreme cold and confirmed that Ukraine is working to increase electricity imports to ease the crisis.
471 apartment buildings in Kyiv were still without heat, nearly a week after the attack disrupted heating, electricity, and water supplies across large parts of the capital.
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About 300 apartment buildings in Kyiv remained without heating as of January 15, following a Russian missile strike earlier this month, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The outages stem from a January 9 attack that initially cut heat supply to more than 6,000 buildings across the capital.
Klitschko said utility crews are working around the clock to restore services, though the city continues to operate under emergency power outage measures.
Regular hourly blackout schedules have been suspended, with Kyiv relying on emergency electricity rationing.
Critical infrastructure is being powered by large generators, while mobile boiler stations have been deployed to affected areas.
Authorities said some large residential buildings that have been without heat and electricity for six days are now being connected to temporary power sources.
“We are doing everything we can under these conditions. But the situation remains extremely difficult, both in terms of energy and the weather,” Klitschko said.
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