Russian air defences have shot down 36 drones in three regions bordered by Ukraine on Monday. The claim was made by the Russian Ministry of Defence. Eighteen Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region while nine drones each were destroyed over Kursk and Belgorod. The local governments have stated that there were no casualties due to the drone strikes. Kyiv has said attacks on Russia’s military, transport and energy infrastructure are in response to Moscow’s continuous attacks on Ukraine’s territory since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The foiled attacks came just a day after Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s two largest cities on Sunday, with missile fragments falling on a suburban Kyiv apartment building and a guided bomb killing one person in Kharkiv.
More than 28 months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces maintain regular attacks on Ukrainian cities as well as on energy infrastructure.
Attacks on Kyiv are less frequent than other cities, although the capital endured a series of assaults in March. Kharkiv has come under regular attack, but military analysts say the frequency has dipped since the United States authorised Ukrainian use of its weapons on certain Russian targets.
In Kyiv’s Obolon suburb, the local military administration said falling fragments from a Russian missile started a fire and damaged balconies on a 14-storey apartment building on Sunday. Emergency services, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said five female residents were treated for stress, and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 10 residents had been evacuated. Emergency services posted a picture online showing at least four blackened balconies.
The head of the military administration of Kyiv region said missile fragments had also fallen outside the capital, causing injuries and damage, though no details were provided. Russian forces were prevented from advancing on Kyiv in the early weeks of the February 2022 invasion and were redeployed along the 1,000-km front line in the east. In Kharkiv, which never fell into Russian hands in the early stages of the war, a guided bomb started a fire and killed a delivery service driver outside a depot on Sunday.
Nine people including an 8-month-old infant were injured in the attack. Pictures posted online showed the depot and trucks outside it badly damaged. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that Russia had used more than 800 guided bombs on Ukrainian targets in the past week. He issued a fresh plea in his nightly video address for better weapons systems to counter the Russians.
(With inputs from Reuters)
