Explosions as Russia launches 15th air assault on Kyiv in May
Russia hits Ukrainian military facility and Odesa port in air strikes
[1/4] An explosion is seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
"...UKRAINIAN COUNTERATTACK EXPECTED
- Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine just over 15 months ago, did not immediately comment on the attacks.
- Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports on the scale of the attacks.
After months of attacks on energy facilities, Russia is now increasingly targeting military facilities and supplies to try to disrupt Ukraine's preparations for its counterattack, Kyiv says.
- Moscow says Ukraine has stepped up drone and sabotage attacks against targets inside Russia as Kyiv prepares for the counteroffensive.
- Ukraine said it had shot down 29 of the 35 drones and 37 of 40 cruise missiles fired overnight by Russia.
The Kyiv military administration said its air defences had shot down over 40 of the "targets" fired at it in what was Russia's 15th air assault on the city this month.
"Another difficult night for the capital," mayor Klitschko said on Telegram.
The attack follows the largest drone barrage launched on Kyiv the previous night, which killed one person and injured several. In Sunday's attack, 36 drones were downed over Kyiv.
"With these constant attacks, the enemy seeks to keep the civilian population in deep psychological tension," said Serhiy Popko, the head of the city's military administration."
Overnight missile attack comes a day after Russia unleashed its largest ever drone assault on the Ukrainian capital.
“A missile shot down near Kyiv,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging channel in the early hours of Monday. “Air defence working!”
- According to preliminary information from the mayor and the city’s military administration, there were no casualties in the overnight attacks.
- The attack on Monday, appearing to be a combination of missiles and drones, follows the largest drone barrage launched on Kyiv the previous night, which killed one person and wounded several more.
Most of the drones were Iranian-made Shahed loitering munitions, the Kyiv Independent news website reported.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the country’s air defence forces for protecting the country and asked its parliament to impose sanctions against Iran for supplying Russia with weapons, including the Shahed drones.
Waves of Russian attacks against Ukraine now come several times a week.
The full scale of Monday’s attack is not immediately known.
- The Reuters news agency reported several loud blasts when the city and the rest of Ukraine were under air raid alerts in the early hours of Monday.
- With a long-promised Ukrainian counteroffensive looming to recapture territory taken by Russia since it began its full-scale invasion 15 months ago, Moscow has intensified its attacks, targeting military infrastructure and supplies.
SBU head confirms involvement of SBU in attack on Crimean Bridge, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet by drones
In an interview with Dmytro Komarov's special project "A year. Offscreen," answering the question of whether the SBU was involved in the bombing of the Crimean Bridge, he said:
"A pseudo-investigation is being conducted in russia regarding the situation that occurred with the Crimean Bridge. They qualify in their own way as a terrorist attack, they took more than 20 of their fellow citizens into custody ... If we start publicly decomposing them into molecules, then we will actually give them the opportunity to clarify and document more qualitatively. Therefore, we'd better watch it."
At the same time, as the head of the Ukrainian Security stressed, in accordance with the norms of Ukrainian and international legislation, "it was a logistical path that we were obliged to cut to the enemy, certain such measures were carried out accordingly."
"But I repeat, I will not say certain details publicly on camera," he added.
Speaking about the attack by drones of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in the city of Sevastopol, Maliuk said:
"As for the situation that happened with the Crimean fleet, namely, attacks by water combat drones, information has been publicly released repeatedly that the SBU was the corresponding author of that operational plan and implemented it, but not only the SBU worked there, we were carrying it out side by side with the Naval Forces, as well as with our concerned civilians."
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