April 25 - A drone believed to be Ukrainian struck a multi-storey apartment building in Yekaterinburg, the largest city in Russia’s Ural region after Moscow, the governor of Sverdlovsk region said on Saturday. The governor described the incident as the first attack on Yekaterinburg since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Sverdlovsk region governor Denis Pasler wrote on the Telegram app that there were no deaths, though some residents suffered minor injuries and one woman required hospital treatment. "Residents of the affected building have been evacuated," he added, and said that emergency services were responding promptly to the scene.
Footage posted on the social media platform X, described as verified, showed smoke pouring from the upper floors of a modern high-rise. The video captured the top of the building with a heavily blackened facade and numerous windows blown out.
There was no immediate public comment from Ukraine about the incident. The drone strike in Yekaterinburg occurred after a separate major overnight Russian attack on Ukraine that killed seven people and injured dozens.
Yekaterinburg has a population of about 1.5 million people and lies in the Ural mountains within the Sverdlovsk region, which is noted in governor Pasler's statement as the location of many defence sector factories. The city is located more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from Kyiv.
Since the conflict began in 2022, Russia has used artillery, drones and air strikes on Ukrainian targets, while Ukrainian forces have carried out strikes deep inside Russia using sabotage groups and drones. Those operations have at times targeted high-value individuals and energy infrastructure, with reports of Russian generals killed and attacks on oil refineries and oil pipelines.
Reporting note: Details above reflect statements made by the regional governor and visible damage captured in online footage. Where authorities or parties have not issued immediate comments, that absence is noted.