‘Pure Intimidation Tactics’: Russia’s Drones Hit Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Trigger Alarm in Romania

Early Wednesday morning, Aug. 6, Russian forces dropped aerial bombs on a recreational base in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, killing at least two people and injuring 12 others, including two children, according to early reports.

“My condolences to the families and loved ones. There was zero military sense in this strike. Just cruelty – to intimidate,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post.

Officials reported that the airstrike occurred between 5:55 and 6:10 a.m., that they promptly arrived at the scene, transported the wounded, handed them over to medics, and evacuated vacationers from danger zones.

As of the time of publication, firefighters were still extinguishing fires in buildings and vehicles at the recreational base. Nine one-story cottages were reportedly damaged by explosions.

As per Ukraine’s Air Force, in the Aug. 5-6 attacks, Russia launched 45 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine from three directions – the Kursk region, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and occupied Crimea.

The air force reported that most of the drones were intercepted, but some hit their targets.

Russian drone strike in Odesa sparks fire visible in Romania, triggers air alert

Russian kamikaze drones also targeted the Izmail district in the Odesa region, damaging gas infrastructure and igniting a fire that was visible from neighboring Romania, Odesa Regional Military Administration head Oleh Kiper reported.

Romanian journalists reported that at least 19 emergency calls from Romanians who mistakenly thought the blaze across the border was in Romanian territory. Romania declared an air raid alert that lasted approximately 90 minutes.

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The Romanian Ministry of National Defense reported that it detected Russian aerial targets over Ukrainian territory near Romania’s northern border, in the area of the Danube River and the Kiliya Veche branch, using specialized equipment.

Kiper said that the fire destroyed production equipment. Due to damage to the main gas pipeline, 2,500 consumers were temporarily cut off from gas.

“Despite the active work of our air defense forces, there was damage to gas infrastructure. A fire broke out on-site and was extinguished by our firefighters at 07:25. Work is now underway to release gas from the system,” he said.

Other attacks

“Also overnight — cowardly strikes on power grids in Dnipropetrovsk, a drone attack on civilians in Kherson, a strike on a gas station in Novosilske, Odesa region,” Zelensky said. “Hundreds of families were left without gas. This was a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season — absolutely cynical, like every Russian strike on our energy infrastructure.”

Zelensky said that no matter what the Kremlin claims, it will only genuinely make moves to end its war when it’s under serious international pressure.