Moscow: Russia's Defence Ministry on Saturday alleged that Ukraine launched a barrage of drones overnight that appeared to target the country's energy infrastructure. At least 50 drones were shot down by air defences over eight Russian regions, including 26 over the country’s western Belgorod region close to the Ukrainian border, while two people were killed during the barrage.
A woman with a broken leg and the man caring for her died after explosions sparked a blaze that set their home on fire, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media. Drones were also reportedly destroyed over the Bryansk, Kursk, Tula, Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga regions across Russia’s west and south, as well as in the Moscow region.
The head of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, said that a drone strike had sparked a blaze at an electrical substation on Saturday, while Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz and Smolensk Gov. Vasily Anokhin also reported fires at fuel and energy complexes. In recent months, Russian refineries and oil terminals have become priority targets of Ukrainian drone attacks, part of stepped-up assaults on Russian territory.
It is important to note that Russia's air force is vastly more powerful than Ukraine's, but sophisticated missile systems provided by Kyiv's Western partners are a major threat to Russian aviation as the Kremlin's forces slowly push forward along the around 1,000-kilometre front line in what has become a grinding war of attrition. Ukraine's drone developers have also been extending the range of weapons for months to compensate for the battlefield disadvantage.
Ukraine claims to have shot down Russian bomber
Meanwhile, Ukraine's air force on Friday claimed to have shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber with anti-aircraft missiles. However, Russian officials said the plane crashed into a sparsely populated area due to a malfunction after a combat mission that resulted in the death of one person, and none of the claims have been independently verified.
Previous Ukrainian claims of shooting down Russian warplanes during their more than two-year war have met with silence or denials from Moscow. Ukraine claimed that its air force and military intelligence cooperated to bring down the Tu-22M3 bomber with anti-aircraft missiles. The bomber is frequently used by Russia to fire Kh-22 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets, and it can also carry nuclear warheads.
"The Ukrainian Air Force shot down the enemy Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, which Russia used to attack Ukrainian cities. In addition, our warriors repelled another massive air attack and shot down 29 aerial targets: 2 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles, 14 Shahed UAVs, 11 Kh-59/Kh-69 guided air missiles, 2 Kh-22 missiles," said Ukraine's Defence Ministry on X.
Russian airstrike kills eight
The bomber reportedly took part in a long-range airstrike that killed eight people including two children in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Missiles rained down on the city of Dnipro and the surrounding region in the early hours, damaging residential buildings and the main train station. Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said three people died in Dnipro, including a man whose body was pulled from the rubble of a five-storey building, while five others were killed in nearby areas of Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with seven missiles, and air defences downed two missiles and three reconnaissance drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Saturday. Russia denies targeting civilians and says the energy system is a legitimate target. Russia has stepped up its long-range aerial assaults on Ukraine's energy system and other targets in recent weeks, ratcheting up the pressure on Kyiv behind the front lines where Russian forces have been slowly advancing in the east.
Meanwhile, Russian war correspondent Semyon Eremin, who worked for the Russian daily Izvestia, was killed on Friday in a Ukrainian drone attack in southeastern Ukraine. Russia's foreign ministry called the killing an "act of revenge for the honest performance of journalistic duty".
(with inputs from Reuters)
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