Russia launches big wave of drone strikes as Nato chief sees Ukraine ‘gaining ground’
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Firefighters extinguish burning trucks damaged during a Russian drone attack on a port in the Odesa region.
PHOTO: REUTERS
KYIV – Russia carried out a big wave of air strikes on three Ukrainian regions early on Thursday, with some attack drones hitting their targets, even as Nato’s chief said in Kyiv later in the day that Ukraine was “gradually gaining ground” against Russia.
Ukrainian air defences shot down 34 of 44 incoming Shahed drones, according to Ukraine’s air force. The strikes targeted the regions of Mykolaiv and Odesa in the south and Kirovohrad in central Ukraine.
“We had an extremely difficult night,” Mr Andriy Raikovych, Kirovohrad’s governor, wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Some of the Shaheds over the region were destroyed. However, there were also hits.”
There were no casualties and no damage to civilian infrastructure, he said. There were no reports of significant damage in Mykolaiv.
The Odesa region’s governor, Mr Oleh Kiper, praised the region’s air defences after the latest wave of Russian attacks since Moscow’s full-scale invasion over 19 months ago.
“No hits or destruction. There were no casualties. There were only a few small fires on dry grass as a result of the falling wreckage of a downed Shahed,” he said.
But Russian shelling damaged a thermal power plant in southern Ukraine late on Wednesday, Ukraine’s national grid operator Ukrenergo said.
It gave no other details on the location of the plant or the extent of the damage.
“Yesterday evening, a thermal power plant in the southern region was damaged as a result of massive enemy shelling,” state-run Ukrenergo said in the statement released on Thursday.
Russia conducts regular long-range missile and drone attacks on targets in Ukraine, with recent attacks often targeting grain and port facilities.
Officials warned that Russia will attack energy infrastructure during the bitter cold of winter.
In a joint press conference with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Nato to buttress his country’s air defence systems ahead of expected Russian strikes on the energy grid.
“The secretary-general agreed to undertake efforts to help and to support us in this matter, to mobilise the member states of the alliance,” Mr Zelensky said.
“We need to get through this winter together, to protect our energy infrastructure and people’s lives,” he said.
Kyiv, which has launched a counteroffensive against Russia’s occupying forces, has been discussing with allies how to beef up its air defences.
Those discussions included talks in Kyiv between Mr Zelensky and Britain’s new defence minister, Mr Grant Shapps.
Mr Stoltenberg said Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground”, even as Russian troops fight for Moscow’s “imperial delusions”.
He announced that Nato now has overarching framework contracts in place with arms companies worth €2.4 billion (S$3.45 billion) for key ammunition, including €1 billion in firm orders.
He said such contracts would allow Nato members to replenish their depleted stockpiles while also continuing to provide Ukraine with ammunition, a key factor in the war.
Mr Stoltenberg also condemned Russian strikes near Ukraine’s border with Nato member Romania.
He said there was no evidence such strikes were a deliberate attack on Romania but branded them “reckless” and “destabilising”. REUTERS
