Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a reinforcement of his own air defense, in particular. Steps to protect the country will be taken in the coming weeks, Zelensky said in his daily video message on Saturday. He also thanked Germany for promising more military aid to Ukraine.
At the beginning of the week, the federal government announced that it intended to increase military aid to Ukraine from four to eight billion euros next year. In addition to Germany, Zelensky also thanked Finland and Lithuania for the new weapons packages.
Anti-aircraft defense plays a special role in Kiev’s considerations, also because of the approaching winter. “As winter approaches, Russian efforts will increase to increase attacks,” Zelensky said.
In fact, there were air alerts again in numerous Ukrainian regions on Sunday night. Late at night, air defense around the capital Kiev also came into action, as reported by the Ukrinform agency.
Kiev’s military administration reported a series of drone attacks coming from various directions on Sunday morning. According to current knowledge, there are no injuries or critical damage in the capital. The information could not be independently verified.
Serious drone attacks damage infrastructure
The night before, Russia had sent one of the largest swarms of drones in recent weeks against the neighboring country. At least we managed to intercept almost 30 drones, praised the Ukrainian head of state on Saturday night.
However, according to Kiev, infrastructure was damaged in Russian drone attacks in the regions of Zaporizhia and Odessa, in southern Ukraine. According to the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the drone attack in Odessa caused a fire in an administrative building of an energy complex. One person was injured and the fire has now been brought under control, he said. But the power supply was also affected. According to operator DTEK, 2,000 people in the region were left without electricity on Saturday.
In Zaporizhzhia, four of eight drones were intercepted, military governor Yuri Malaschko said on Telegram. However, several infrastructure objects were also hit, causing a fire to break out. There were no injuries.
Since last fall, Russia has repeatedly and systematically attacked energy supply facilities in its neighboring country. Kiev also expects targeted attacks from Moscow on Ukraine’s electricity, heat and water supplies this winter. Ukraine has been defending itself from the Russian war of aggression since the end of February 2022.
Mayor: drone attack on Moscow repelled
Moscow, for its part, reported again on Sunday night about a drone attack that targeted the Russian capital. Air defense thwarted the attack in Bogorodskoye, a district in the eastern administrative district of the city of Moscow, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his Telegram channel. The Russian Defense Ministry also said on Telegram that air defense destroyed a Ukrainian drone over Bogorodskoye at around 1 a.m. Moscow time. The information could not be independently verified.