Russian Drone Strikes Firefighters Battling Blaze in Sloviansk

Russian forces attacked firefighters in Sloviansk, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, as they worked to extinguish a blaze caused by an earlier drone strike, according to Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.

Ukrinform reported that the fire had been sparked by an FPV (first-person-view) drone strike, and that Russian forces then targeted the firefighting crews who arrived to bring the blaze under control.

The report did not specify the number of firefighters involved, whether any were injured, or the extent of damage caused by either the original strike or the subsequent attack on emergency responders.

Sloviansk, a city in the Donetsk region that has remained under Ukrainian control throughout the war, has been repeatedly targeted by Russian strikes as fighting continues in the region.

Attacks on emergency responders and civilian infrastructure have been documented repeatedly since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting rescue workers. Russian authorities did not immediately comment on the specific incident.