Ukraine drone attacks kill one in Rostov, Russian authorities say

March 23 (Reuters) - Russian air defence units destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones that targeted Russia's southwestern regions and killed one person in Rostov, Russian authorities said on Sunday.

Twenty-nine of the drones were downed overnight over the Rostov region in Russia's south, the Russian defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. Another 20 were downed over the Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea.

The rest of the drones were downed over the Voronezh, Volgograd, Kursk and Saratov regions, as well as over Crimea, the ministry said.

Yuri Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region that borders Ukraine, said that the attack killed one person.

"A car caught fire due to a drone attack," Slyusar said on Telegram messaging. "A person in the car was killed."

Igor Babushkin, the governor of the Astrakhan region, said debris from a destroyed drone fell on a house and damaged a car but that there were no injuries.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the three-year-old war that Russia started with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine.