Russia attacked Ukraine with 38 Shahed drones overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said Tuesday, saying 26 of the aircraft were shot down.
• Read also: Russian anti-aircraft defense shoots down missile over Crimea
• Read also: “Massive” Russian attack on Odessa, Moscow shoots down several Ukrainian drones
“The launches of 38 Shaheds (…) were recorded,” the air force wrote on Telegram in its daily report, specifying that Ukrainian defenses had destroyed 26 of these Iranian-made devices.
The Odessa region (south) is one of the positions struck during the night by Russian forces, who notably targeted the port of Izmail.
The assault lasted two hours, regional governor Oleg Kiper wrote on Telegram, saying that “most of the drones” had been shot down.
“Unfortunately, the port infrastructure was affected in the Izmail district,” he explained, also deploring two truck drivers injured, one of whom was hospitalized.
A checkpoint and warehouses, as well as around thirty trucks, were damaged, he said.
The river port of Izmail, located on the Danube on the border with NATO member Romania, has become one of the main routes for exporting Ukrainian agricultural products to the Black Sea after its abandonment last month of July of the agreement which allowed Ukraine to freely transit its production. Russian assaults in the southern regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv have increased since then.
This new offensive comes after a Russian attack described as “massive” by the Odessa authorities on Monday. The region was then attacked by 19 Shahed drones and missiles, including two supersonic Onyxes.
Also in the south, in the Kherson region, four people were injured after Russian attacks Monday evening, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the town of Kryvyi Rig was hit by a ballistic missile, according to initial information transmitted early Tuesday by the head of the local military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul. “There are no casualties,” he reported on Telegram, adding that the Nikopol district was also hit, again without casualties.