During the night from Monday to Tuesday, “the launches of 38 Shahed (drones) (…) were recorded,” the Ukrainian Air Force wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Tuesday, September 26, that Russia had attacked Ukraine with 38 Shahed drones during the night from Monday to Tuesday, and that 26 of these aircraft had been shot down. At the same time, Moscow declared that the American Abrams tanks delivered to Kiev “will burn”, and that their arrival on the battlefield “would not change the balance of power” between Russian and Ukrainian troops. Franceinfo takes stock of the highlights of the day.
Ukraine attacked by around forty drones
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, “the launches of 38 Shahed (…) 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. The assault lasted two hours, regional governor Oleg Kiper reported on Telegram, saying that “most drones” had been shot. “Unfortunately, the port infrastructure was affected in the Izmail district”, he said, deploring two injured truck drivers, one of whom was hospitalized. A checkpoint and warehouses, as well as around 30 trucks, were damaged, he added.
Abrams tanks will “burn” in Ukraine, says Moscow
“Abrams tanks are serious weapons”declared Tuesday the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, in reaction to the arrival of American Abrams tanks in Ukraine. “They will burn too”he told the press, echoing Vladimir Putin’s warning during the delivery of the first Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
“All this cannot in any way affect the essence of the ‘special military operation’,” not more than “its result”assured Dmitri Peskov. “There is not (…) one type of weapon that can change the balance of power on the battlefield”.
Former Russian President Medvedev in eastern Ukraine
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, number two on his country’s Security Council, announced Tuesday that he had visited a military training site in eastern Ukraine. “I visited the training site near the front line on the territory of the DNR (Self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic) by order of the president” Vladimir Putin, he said in a video posted on the Russian social network VKontakte.
Dmitri Medvedev also announced that the Russian army had recruited more than 325,000 people since the start of the year, or 45,000 more than the previous figures given at the beginning of September.
Uncertainty over the death of a Russian commander
The Russian Defense Ministry released an image on Tuesday showing Viktor Sokolov, commander of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, participating in a video conference, after Ukraine claimed to have killed him. In the photo, the official appears on a large screen, alongside other senior military officials attending a meeting chaired by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. A press release states that this meeting took place on Tuesday. In a video released later, the commander appears in the image several times, without speaking.
Ukraine on Friday struck the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, a city in Crimea annexed by Russia. On Monday, the Ukrainian military said Commander Sokolov was among around 30 officers killed in the strike. After the images were released on Tuesday, Ukrainian special operations forces announced that they were “clarify” their information.