This article summarizes the most important events of the war in Ukraine from Saturday, March 2, 2024. It is the 738th day of the war.
- Russia struck Odessa early Saturday morning with a drone. At least seven died.
- Also in St. Petersburg, a drone was reported to have hit an apartment building, but no injuries were caused.
- The British Ministry of Defense said that Russia has possibly grounded its A-50 radar.
At least eight were killed in Russian airstrikes at night
The number of victims of the Russian attack on Odessa on Saturday rose to eight. According to Reuters, among the victims was a newborn and a two-year-old boy.
Russia struck an apartment building with a drone early in the morning. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, between Friday and Saturday, Russia launched 17 drones. The Air Force managed to repel 14 of them.
At least eight people were killed and several were injured in Russian airstrikes in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Odessa regions, officials say, according to news agency AFP. The authorities say that the attacks took place on the night between Friday and Saturday.
According to Odessa authorities, the Russian drone strike damaged several apartment buildings. According to the Kyiv Independent, the attack destroyed 18 apartments and caused several people to be buried in the rubble.
In the Kharkiv region, the drone hit a residential house in the village of Velykyi Burluk. According to the local police, the 76-year-old owner of the house died in the attack. The body of the elderly owner was exhumed from the ruins of the house destroyed in the attack.
The authorities say they evacuated an elderly woman from the house next door.
Authorities in the Kharkiv region also report a separate drone attack in which several residential buildings and vehicles were damaged. The authorities have not said that any personal injuries were caused by the attack.
People have been searched for a long time in the ruins of an apartment building. AOP
Zelenskyi: “The world will remember this”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi reported on Telegram on Saturday that Russia used an Iranian Shahed drone in the attack.
– Such Shahed attacks have no military sense and no sense at all. This is terrorism with the pure purpose of killing and instilling fear.
Zelenskyi also said in the same message that Western arms aid is critical to saving lives. He did not understand the delay of the military aid at all.
– The world has enough anti-missile systems that can protect against Shahed drones. Unfortunately, delaying arms aid leads to such losses and a continued increase in the number of children killed by Russia.
– Human lives are lost, but the partners just play internal politics and argue, which limits our defense. It is impossible to understand and impossible to accept. It is also impossible to forget, and the world will remember this, Zelenskyi thundered.
The drone hit St. Petersburg
Russian media Fontanka reported that at least one drone fell in St. Petersburg on Saturday morning. According to preliminary information, the drone hit an apartment building in St. Petersburg.
Locals noticed a flash and a bang in the Krasnogvardeisk district.
The window panes and balconies of the apartment building were damaged in the explosion. At the same time, the neighboring house and some cars in the yard were damaged. The governor of the region Alexander Beglov tells Fontaka that no one died in the explosion.
Six people resorted to first aid and one elderly person was transported to the hospital.
According to Fontanka, no one lived in the apartment that was hit, and the risk of further damage was reduced by the fact that the apartment had been disconnected from the gas heating network.
It is believed that the target of the drone was initially a nearby oil storage.
Intelligence sources: Russia probably grounded its spy plane
The British Ministry of Defense says in X, that Russia has possibly grounded its A-50 radar. The reason for this is probably that Ukraine has shot down two valuable reconnaissance planes in a short period of time.
Ukraine managed to destroy the A-50 the first time at the end of January and the second time a month later. Now Russia will figure out how to better protect the precious machines.
The British Ministry of Defense estimates that Russia is currently looking for other ways to collect information from the air. The A-50s are also old and suffer from wear and tear. Crew fatigue under heavy pressure is also a problem in Russia, the Ministry of Defense estimates in its press release.
Russia may import decommissioned A-50s to solve these problems.
Head of Military Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov told Ukrainska Pravda that Russia has only six A-50s since the latest downing.
Russia has lost two of its eight A-50 reconnaissance aircraft. EPA / AOP
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