Russian drone hits school in Kiev; attacks intensify in Ukraine

A Russian drone struck a school in the capital of Ukraine, authorities reported on Thursday (1st), the latest episode in a series of increasingly intense airstrikes against Kiev.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there were children in the shelter at the time of the attack, which caused a fire. He reported that there were no injuries.

The State Emergency Service released images of rescuers sifting through the rubble and putting out the fire in the charred building, whose windows were shattered.

The morning bombing came amid increasingly intense, round-the-clock attacks on Kiev and other cities with jet drones, which Ukraine's armed forces have had difficulty taking down.

One person was injured this morning in a Russian airstrike on a shopping center in the Black Sea port city of Odessa, according to regional authorities.

The head of the municipal administration, Serhiy Lysak, said infrastructure had been damaged, without giving further details.

Odessa and the nearby region have been frequent targets of attacks aimed, in part, at choking off Kiev's export earnings.

Russia, which says it attacks only military targets, said it attacked a data center in Odessa and a cargo ship in the nearby port of Chornomorsk.