2023-11-04 00:02:00
Ukraine was targeted during the night from Thursday to Friday by a new massive drone attack launched by Russia, only half of which were shot down, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Last night there were around 40 Shahed (Iranian-made drones). More than half of them were shot down,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram, confirming that there had “been impacts” on the ground.
This is an air attack repelled with less success than others which have targeted Ukraine in recent months, for which the Ukrainian defense managed to shoot down almost all of the machines in flight.
The attack targeted ten regions of Ukraine, including the South, West and Kiev, the capital, according to the president, who specified that it did not cause any casualties.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andriï Iermak, for his part, indicated that 24 Shahed-136/131 drones and a missile were shot down, stressing that “the Russians are gradually increasing their air attacks against Ukraine.”
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city located in the northeast of the country, an AFP photographer saw a building with its facade gutted by an impact, while firefighters worked to put out a fire on the ground .
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said the building of an educational institution was “seriously damaged” by the attack and that a part of the city had to be cut off from the electricity grid for repairs.
Other drones hit a gas station, a dormitory where displaced people live and residential buildings, he said.
Other Ukrainian regions have reported impacts on infrastructure and buildings.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian army, Natalia Goumeniouk, reported a “difficult, tense” situation on the Southern front, also mentioning the “powerful” Russian drone attack.
“The air defense forces in our region were in action for almost 5 hours,” she stressed. She mentioned a drone impact on an infrastructure but without “critical damage”.
They said previous, less massive Russian drone attacks were likely aimed at detecting the location of Ukrainian air defense systems.
Ukraine is expecting a new Russian campaign of massive bombings on its energy infrastructure this winter, as in 2022, when these attacks regularly plunged millions of people into darkness.
“The battle for the sky is what awaits us. And this battle will be for our infrastructure,” noted Mr. Iermak on Telegram.
Volodymyr Zelensky promised to continue strengthening Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense, which depends on arms supplies from kyiv’s Western allies.
03/11/2023 23:01:11 – Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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