A Ukrainian drone strike on a market in Tokmak, Zaporozhye Region has left at least five residents dead and another 18 injured on Friday, Governor Evgeny Balitsky has reported.
The Russian official stressed that the casualty count is preliminary, as local rescue services continue to respond to the emergency.
His initial report said victims were being rushed to a local hospital amid an ongoing Ukrainian raid.
Balitsky said Ukrainian forces deliberately struck people who were buying groceries and fit a pattern of attacks against civilian locations.
A series of Ukrainian overnight attacks on the region have killed three people and injured several others, Balitsky previously said. One of the fatalities was the driver of a truck hit by a drone, according to the official. The two others were an elderly couple, whose bodies were recovered from a destroyed rural home.
Zaporozhye Region is among former Ukrainian territories that Kiev claims sovereignty over and seeks to retake through continued hostilities. It joined Russia following a referendum in late 2022, which the Ukrainian government branded a “sham.” Parts of the region remain under control of Ukrainian forces.
Earlier in the day, the acting governor of Russia’s Belgorod Region, Aleksandr Shuvaev, reported that an overnight missile strike killed a woman and left another one injured.