Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing one civilian and wounding more than 30 people in the centre, south, and northeast, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.
The Russian forces launched 92 drones and five missiles at 12 Ukrainian regions, the Ukrainian air force said. Sixty-two drones and four missiles were downed and 26 drones were "lost", most likely meaning they had been thwarted electronically.
The Interior Ministry said one person had been killed in the Odesa region, where civilian infrastructure and homes were damaged and nine people were injured.
Four people were wounded in a drone attack on the Kyiv region and at least six houses and several cars were damaged, it said.
Kyiv and surrounding region have been under Russian drone attacks almost every night recently. On Thursday, a high-rise in the capital where Estonian ambassador Annely Kolk lives was hit, Estonia's foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said.
"She was lucky not to be harmed. No one is safe in Ukraine until Russia stops its aggression. Ukraine needs more air defense to protect its residents," Tsahkna said on X.
Russia also pounded the city of Kharkiv in the northeast with guided bombs, wounding at least 25 people, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a fresh appeal to Kyiv's allies to help strengthen its air defenses.
"Air defense, long-range capabilities, weapons packages, sanctions against the aggressor - this is the answer that is needed, not only in words, but also in actions," he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia has intensified its air attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, sending swarms of drones.
Ukrainian officials say Russia is trying to stretch Ukraine's air defenses and demoralize the civilian population as the war nears the 1,000-day mark and Moscow's troops advance in the east.
Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in October, Ukraine's military said.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
27 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
Just more warcrimes by the warcriming state.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The fact they are resorting to killing civilians means they must be having trouble with military targets. This is good.
falseflagsteve
Ukraine is getting hammered and the frontline troops are withdrawing on all fronts due to lack of numbers and equipment.
TaiwanIsNotChina
That's why they need your support and the withdrawal is still not even 10 sq kms a day.
falseflagsteve
Taiwan
They are withdrawing daily, unable to make counter attacks or defend positions despite the billions sent to them. I said this many times, beating Russia militarily is impossible for them. A ceasefire and negotiations are needed to end this in the name of peace.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Causing sufficient pain to the russian is still within the realm of possibility for Ukraine. It's a long way to Kyiv. A ceasefire has to happen from a point of strength for Ukraine as that is the only thing Putin understands.
falseflagsteve
Taiwan
Its not going to happen, in fact it’s impossible.
dobre vam zajebava
were patriots and other nato wunderwaffen off again?
just wondering....ok1514 saying that Ukraine prevails over 500days but hey....is this how ukrainian prevailing looks like?
Primusinter
Today, the bodies of the dead soldiers were exchanged according to the formula 37 Russians for 563 Ukrainians. Among those handed over to Ukraine are the bodies of 62 prisoners who died during the attack by a Patriot missile (Ukraine) on the military transport Il-76 of the Russian Aerospace Forces. That is, those 62 Ukrainian prisoners whom Ukraine itself shot. You remember. According to the number of exchanged bodies, the proportion of losses on both sides can be seen.
TaiwanIsNotChina
You are not a military expert so these words mean nothing.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Yes we remember the prisoner transport not correctly identified to Ukraine. And all this proves is russian lives have no value to Putin.
Jimizo
Lol.
Not what you’d expect from the world’s leading WW2 scholar.
JJE
No warcrimes. Provoked by actions in 2014.
Make no mistake - this is a limited ground operation in defense of Donbass and in support of national security objectives of Russia.
Peter14
Dreaming much? This is a full on invasion that Russia cant finish on its own. Russian weapons factories running three shifts 24/7 cant supply all the ordinance it needs. Getting more from Iran and North Korea who are also supplying meat for the grinder. Russia is nothing when it cant use the nukes it hangs over the worlds head, thats why it has them.
Russia using maximum effort and getting limited returns, all the while committing war crimes almost every day.
JJE
Has anyone examined the frontlines and troop dispositions on the main line of contact (AKA the Eastern Front) recently - even in their dreams?
One may observe a few things:
Amongst them are the general deterioration of UAF positions.
The next is daily Russian advances.
Lastly, this is not a 'recent' phenomena, just picking up steam.
TaiwanIsNotChina
UN Charter Chapter 7 Article 51 only authorizes war in the event of an armed attack. Even the russian hasn't cooked up such a story in 2014 or 2022. Then we have the Rome Statute Crime of Aggression:
https://treaties.un.org/doc/source/docs/RC-Res.6-ENG.pdf
And even though russia is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, this should not prevent world condemnation and nonrecognition of gains from such heinous war crimes at a minimum.
JJE
Plenty of armed attacks in 2014. Odessa was particularly nasty. The campaign to crush the south-east was part of a wider ulcer.
Kyiv regime will be held accountable for their abuses. The cure is coming.
TaiwanIsNotChina
How did I know that was going to be the misdirection. Article 51 says:
Odessa is not a Member of the United Nations. You don't get to declare war on the US if some russian is assaulted on the streets of New York.
Hope you got the bodies to pay for it. Seems like Ukraine is good at making sweets.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Actually there were no russians in the 2014 crime by hooligans. So it is more like russia declared war over some rumors that somewhere some russian speaker got assaulted.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Also important to note that russian criminal invasions of Ukraine began long before May 2nd. An inconvenient fact for some posters.
Primusinter
Such a fact must have a date. Can you educate us?
JJE
Also inconvenient to note Moscow doesn't want 2014 meddling on their borders. No NATO and no offensive vessels dropping anchor in Sevastopol.
Forward defense is always the best way to pre-empt something larger, especially with the pandora's box of controversial saluting marching nationalists let loose there. Sanitary measures sometimes are necessary to correct a pear shaped situation.
Moscow has each and every right to defend the human rights of the diaspora. (also relevant to observe many other countries have taken military action, including the US amongst others, on exactly the same issues.)
Primusinter
A little bit from the chapter whataboutism. What are the US military doing in Syria? The region of Syria where the Americans pump oil is a member of the UN?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Well russian campaign medals use Feb. 20th as the date of the beginning of illegal activity, so lets go with that.
Indeed. Whataboutism is not a valid argument.
The US never annexed any part of Syria.
TaiwanIsNotChina
You can call it whatever you want. It is still a huge war crime to try to annex a neighbor.
But not with annexations, in the case of the US.
JJE
They weren't annexed for 8 years of independence which occurred from 2014. They asked to join the Russian Federation for self-protection.
In other words, the actual locals there fully supported the steps they asked for.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Ukraine's borders are recognized by all UN members except russia. No illegal referendum can change this fact.