Ukraine launched a wave of drones on Russia in the early hours of Saturday, setting fire to a fuel depot according to a Ukrainian defense source, and the two countries accused each other of deadly attacks against civilians. A key vote is planned for Saturday in the American Congress on aid of 61 billion dollars (57 billion euros) expected for several months by kyiv. Ukraine “can no longer wait” in the face of Russian pressure, declared its President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday during a videoconference with NATO, calling in particular for at least seven additional Patriot anti-aircraft systems.
Ukraine is facing ammunition shortages and is unable to protect all of its cities and energy infrastructure, which have been regularly targeted by the Russian army for several weeks. kyiv is constantly asking its partners for munitions and anti-aircraft systems to counter these Russian strikes, but divisions in Europe and especially in Washington have slowed down deliveries.
On Saturday, a Russian strike killed two people in northeastern Ukraine and Ukrainian cross-border bombings killed at least three people on the Russian side, including a pregnant woman. Ukraine said Russia launched strikes on residential buildings in Vovchansk (north-east), a town located about five kilometers from the Russian border, killing two people and wounding two others.
Heap of ruins
“A direct strike was recorded on a nine-story residential building,” according to the regional prosecutor’s office. “A woman and a man were injured. They are each aged 61. In other places, two men aged 50 and 84 died after the bombing of the city.” The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegoubov, shared a photo showing a pile of ruins near a collapsed part of a multi-story residential block.
Russia fired at least seven missiles at Ukraine overnight, two of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defenses, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. At the same time, a Ukrainian defense source told AFP that kyiv had targeted eight Russian regions overnight in a “large-scale” drone attack targeting “the energy infrastructure that powers the Russian military-industrial complex.” “. “At least three electricity substations and a fuel depot were hit and caught fire,” the source added. It was a “joint operation” of the Ukrainian security services (SBU), military intelligence services (GUR) and the armed forces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not mention this affected depot according to kyiv, indicating however that it had intercepted 50 Ukrainian drones during the night, some of which were hundreds of kilometers from the Ukrainian border and even near Moscow. Videos posted on social media showed a huge fire raging at a fuel depot in Russia’s western Smolensk region that Governor Vasily Anokhin said was caused by downed drones.
Reprisals
Ukraine, faced with the Russian invasion for two years, has increased its attacks against Russia in recent weeks, particularly targeting refineries. kyiv has promised to bring the fighting to Russian soil in retaliation for the numerous deadly bombings on its territory. In the Russian region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported at the start of the day two deaths in Ukrainian drone attacks and then the death of a pregnant woman during subsequent bombings.
A residential building and a barn in the village of Poroz, less than two kilometers from the border, were “completely burned down”, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov. Another building was seriously damaged. “Due to the launch of two explosive devices, a private residential building caught fire. Tragically, two civilians died – a woman being treated for a fractured femur and a man who was caring for her,” wrote the manager on Telegram. He then said that Ukrainian shelling had caused the death of a pregnant woman in Novaya Tavoljanka, a village near the border with Ukraine.