(Kyiv) Ukraine said Thursday it had intercepted 41 of the 42 explosive drones launched by Russia overnight on its territory, a new attack illustrating the growing pressure from Moscow on the ground in recent days.
“41 (explosive drones, Editor’s note) “Shahed” destroyed” out of “a total of 42 recorded,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement on Telegram.
According to this source, Russia fired “in waves” from three directions from its soil and aimed “mainly Odessa”, the large Ukrainian port in the south of the country.
Eleven people were injured, including three children, and 11 buildings damaged, according to the local military administration.
The Russian army also fired S-300 missiles towards the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which however did not detail the consequences of these strikes.
This new salvo of Russian drone attacks comes the day after a nighttime strike on Kyiv, which left 53 injured, the heaviest death toll in months in the Ukrainian capital.
Kyiv has been on the defensive since the failure of its summer counter-offensive, especially since the West is now procrastinating on the extent of the political, military and financial aid to be provided to their Ukrainian ally.
Russia has taken the opportunity in recent weeks to carry out assaults in the east around Avdiïvka and also in the Zaporizhia region (south), where it says it has progressed “significantly” to the northeast of Novopokrovka. .
Russia says it neutralized nine drones heading towards Moscow
Russia said Thursday it had neutralized nine Ukrainian drones heading toward Moscow, hours before President Vladimir Putin participated in a question-and-answer session with journalists and citizens in the Russian capital.
“An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using aerial drones against sites on Russian territory has been foiled,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“Nine Ukrainian drones were destroyed or intercepted” above the Kaluga region, 160 km from the Russian capital, and that of Moscow, according to the same source.
For his part, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, clarified on Telegram that two of these drones “heading towards Moscow” had been neutralized in the Naro-Fominsk district, near the Russian capital.
According to initial information, the falling debris from these drones “did not cause any damage or injuries,” he stressed.
Drone attacks have regularly targeted Russian regions bordering Ukraine and those around Moscow in recent months.
Russia, for its part, bombs Ukrainian cities daily and carried out a new massive drone attack overnight, after having already struck Kyiv with missiles the day before.