Russian attacks killed at least two people in Balakliia and targeted the Ukrainian capital Friday evening, while a drone struck a cooling tower at the Russian Kursk nuclear power plant, causing no fire or shutdown of the site.
Two civilians died Friday in Balakliia, Kharkiv oblast, during a Russian strike. Vitalii Karabanov, head of the local military administration, confirmed the toll on Telegram, expressing condolences to the victims’ families and reporting significant destruction in the affected area.
Kyiv was targeted in the evening by ballistic missiles. The capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, alerted residents shortly after 7:30 p.m. local time, urging them to stay sheltered while air defense systems engaged over the city.
The center of Odessa also suffered two successive strikes. The second hit the area while rescue teams were already responding, injuring ten people according to local media. Footage shows an office building on fire downtown.
On Russian territory, a drone collided with a cooling tower at the Kursk nuclear power plant overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Friday it was informed of the incident, specifying that the site remained operational, no fire broke out, and operations continued normally.
The IAEA Director General, Rafael Grossi, nevertheless warned against any new strikes near nuclear infrastructure, calling for “maximum military restraint to prevent the risk of a nuclear accident.”
