Ukraine’s military reported on Monday that Russia launched 22 drones, 17 of which were shot down, in nighttime attacks across the country.
The Ukrainian air force said the Russian strikes also included five missiles targeting the Kharkiv region on the Ukrainian-Russian border and two other missiles targeting the neighboring Sumy region.
The range of the drones was wide, and the Ukrainian military said interceptions occurred in Kiev, Poltava, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Kirovolad, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinny Zaporozhye and Rivne regions.
Dnepropetrovsk Region Governor Serhiy Lysak reported that debris fell on the roof of a residential building, sparking a fire.
The drone strikes also damaged residential buildings and industrial facilities in the Kirovolad region, said Andrei Rekovic, the governor of the Kirovolad region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Russian troops have an advantage on the battlefield in Ukraine and that it may be necessary for the Russian army to establish a buffer zone on the Ukrainian side of the border to prevent attacks on Russian territory.
Putin’s comments followed a recent Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian oil refinery and the announcement of a new six-year term in an internationally infamous election.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that “everything Russia does in the occupied territories of Ukraine is criminal.”
“For Putin to remain in power for life, there must be just retribution for what the Russian murderers have done in this war,” Zelensky said in a night speech.
Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine launched 35 drones into its territory, causing a brief fire at an oil refinery, targeting Moscow and affecting power supplies in border areas.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram on Sunday that 17 of the drones launched by Ukraine were destroyed in the southern Krasnodar region, four in the Moscow region and the remaining six in other regions.
“The drone was neutralized, but one of the devices fell, causing a fire,” the combat headquarters in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said on Telegram.
The fire was extinguished within hours, and while no one died directly, preliminary reports indicate at least one person died of a heart attack, the post said.
VOA could not independently verify the reports.
Reuters quoted Ukrainian intelligence sources as saying that since the outbreak of the war in February 2022, attack drones launched by Ukraine’s SBU domestic security department have attacked 12 Russian oil refineries.
The governor of the Belgorod region said that Ukrainian shelling killed one person and injured 11 others in the region. The regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said earlier on Sunday that a 16-year-old girl had been killed in a Ukrainian shell fire in the border area.
This report contains information from The Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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