Damage to windows and balconies caused by a Ukrainian drone strike on the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, 14 August 2025. Photo: Baza

At least 13 people were injured in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don following a Ukrainian drone strike on Thursday, the Rostov region’s acting governor, Yury Slyusar, has announced.

A video posted by Telegram channel ASTRA shows the drone flying over the city and striking a multi-storey apartment building, causing an explosion on Thursday morning.

Windows were smashed and balconies were damaged in at least 10 nearby buildings, Slyusar wrote, adding that a total of 212 people have been evacuated and placed in temporary accommodation centres. No fatalities have so far been reported.

According to Telegram channel Baza, local residents received an emergency alert on their phones about a minute after the drone struck the building.

Elsewhere in Russia, three people were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on Belgorod, a city in western Russia close to the Ukrainian border, on Thursday morning, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have not commented on either strike, though the Russian Defence Ministry said in its morning briefing on Thursday that the Russian military shot down eight Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod and Kursk regions on Thursday morning, but made no mention of the attack on Rostov-on-Don.

Ukraine has escalated its drone strikes on targets within Russia over the past several months, leading the Russian authorities to impose frequent communications shutdowns on vulnerable border areas in an attempt to thwart the growing number of attacks, though in some cases, the shutdowns have also undermined attempts to warn locals of incoming drone strikes.

The regional authorities in Rostov-on-Don have repeatedly cut off cell service in the region over the summer, with some residents complaining on Wednesday of being unable to access messengers and banking apps for nearly two days.