MOSCOW: One person died and three others were wounded on Thursday in a Russian region bordering Ukraine, as Russia faced a third night of drone attacks on its territory, officials said.

Russia’s defence ministry on Thursday said that 14 Ukrainian drones were destroyed overnight, the latest wave of attacks on Russian territory ahead of presidential elections on March 15-17 that are all but guaranteed to hand President Vladimir Putin another six years in power.

In the border region of Belgorod, “according to preliminary information a driver was killed in a strike targeting his car,” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram, adding that two women and a man were also injured.

Ukraine launches drone attacks on Russia for second night in a row, officials say

The strikes also damaged two houses and a medical facility, he said.

The defence ministry said in a statement that 11 drones were shot down over the Belgorod region overnight and three over the region of Kursk.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, dozens of Ukrainian drones targeted several Russian regions, including oil refineries hundreds of kilometres from the frontline, in the regions of Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad.