April 28 (Reuters) - A Russian drone attack heavily

damaged a hotel in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv, the

governor of the broader Mykolaiv region said, with Russia's RIA

news agency reporting the hotel housed English-speaking

mercenaries fighting in Ukraine.

     "The enemy attacked the city with an unmanned aerial

vehicle of the 'Shahed-131/136' type," Mykolaiv's governor,

Vitaly Kim, said on the Telegram messaging app.

    "As a result, a hotel building was heavily damaged, a fire

broke out, which was quickly extinguished ... There are no

casualties."

    Kim and Ukraine's State Emergency Service said the Russian

attack also damaged windows in a nearby hotel and that

heat-generating infrastructure was damaged.

    Russia's RIA state news agency, citing Russian underground

fighters in the region, said Russian forces hit a shipbuilding

plant and a hotel in Mykolaiv where English-speaking mercenaries

fighting in Ukraine were housed.

    Reuters could not independently verify the reports.    

    Ukraine's Air Force also said on Sunday on its Telegram

account, without providing details, that its forces destroyed a

Russia-launched drone over Mykolaiv.

    The air force said four other drones launched by Russia were

destroyed over the region around the capital Kyiv, the central

Vinnytsia and Kirovohrad regions, and over the western

Khmelnytskyi region.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Lisbon; Editing by Tom Hogue)

((lidia.kelly@thomsonreuters.com;))