Kiev. More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia on Sunday, authorities said, sparking a forest fire and setting an apartment block on fire in one of the largest landslides in Russian skies since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February. of 2022.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that it had shot down 125 drones overnight in seven regions. The southwestern region of Volgograd came under especially heavy fire with 67 drones shot down by Russian air defenses, according to reports.
Another 17 drones were spotted in Russia’s Voronezh region, where falling debris damaged an apartment block and a private home, local governor Aleksandr Gusev said. Images on social media showed flames coming out of the windows on the upper floor of a multi-story building. There were no reports of victims.
Another 18 drones were identified in the Rostov area and the fallen debris caused a forest fire, said Governor Vasily Golubev.
The fire did not threaten populated areas, he said, although emergency services were working to put out the flames, which had charred 20 hectares of forest.
Separately, 14 civilians were wounded in a nighttime barrage on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Sunday, after Ukrainian military commanders warned that Moscow could be preparing a new military offensive in the south of the country.
The city was hit by Russian gliding bombs in 10 separate attacks that damaged a high-rise building and several homes, regional governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on his Telegram channel. There could be more people trapped under the rubble, he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky also stated that the attack on Zaporizhzhia had affected the city’s transportation. “Today Russia attacked Zaporizhzhia with aerial bombs. Ordinary residential buildings were damaged and the entrance to one building was destroyed. The city’s infrastructure and railway were also damaged,” Zelensky said on X, formerly Twitter.
The Ukrainian military warned on Saturday that Russian forces could be preparing an offensive in the Zaporizhia region. Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for the Ukrainian army’s southern command, said Russia was amassing troops in that direction.
The Ukrainian Air Force also said 22 Russian drones had been launched into the country overnight. Fifteen were shot down in the Ukrainian regions of Sumy, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv and Odessa, and five more were destroyed by electronic defenses. It was not clear what had happened to the other two aircraft.
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– 2024-10-02 16:11:34
