Ukraine Army Says It Downed 21 of 49 Drones Overnight

Kyiv said Sunday it had destroyed 21 of 49 Iranian-made “Shahed” drones fired by Russia overnight, adding that six guided missiles had also targeted the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

The fresh Russian strikes came a day after an unprecedented attack on the city of Belgorod, and as the two sides took turns accusing each other of pummelling civilian areas of their shared frontier region over the weekend.

The Ukrainian air force said in a statement on Telegram Sunday that the overnight drones were particularly targeted at “the front line of defence, as well as at civilian, military and infrastructure facilities in the front-line territories”.

It did not say whether the six missiles had hit their targets.

Oleg Sinegubov, the head of Kharkiv city’s military administration, said there had been 28 civilians wounded in the attack on the city.

The injured included two teenagers and a foreign citizen, he said.

The strike follows the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the start of the conflict in February 2022.

At least 22 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Saturday in Belgorod, a Russian city just 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border that has been repeatedly struck by what Moscow says is indiscriminate shelling.

Moscow said Saturday’s attack included the use of controversial cluster munitions, and told an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council that Kyiv had targeted a sports centre, an ice rink and a university.

AFP