Ukraine says Russian drone attack injures three, damages homes in Odesa

(Reuters) - A Russian drone attack on the Black Sea port city of Odesa overnight injured three people, sparked fires and damaged homes and civilian infrastructure, officials of the southern Ukrainian region said on Wednesday.

Various morning attacks by Russian aviation and artillery on the southern city of Kherson also killed one person and injured three more, local authorities said.

In a Telegram post, Ukraine's emergency service said three people were injured and several fires broke out in Odesa as a result of the overnight attack there.

In Odesa, residents picked through debris in several ruined homes. A woman swept up after the windows in a church were smashed.

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 57 out of 97 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 34 did not reach their targets likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures.

It did not specify what happened to the remaining six drones.

The emergency services also said an attack on Kamianske in Dnipropetrovsk region injured two people and damaged a gas pipeline. The fires had been put out by the morning.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia started with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.

Late in March, the United States said it had reached separate deals with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks over the Black Sea and against each other's energy targets.

Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratorium on striking energy facilities.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Anastasiia Malenko in Kyiv; Editing by Jamie Freed, Clarence Fernandez and Frances Kerry)