While the dispute between Russia and Ukraine took place yesterday with mutual "massive" attacks from the air, Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, called for more weapons for Ukraine. Up to seven Russian regions were the object of the largest attack with Ukrainian drones since the beginning of the conflict at dawn yesterday, according to the Moscow authorities.
In a night with hostilities on both sides, in Kyiv they claimed that their air defenses had destroyed more than 20 drones and missiles over the Ukrainian capital, the most powerful attack since the spring. Two people died from falling debris.
Russian regions bordering Ukraine and Moscow are common targets for drones sent from Ukrainian territory. But yesterday these managed to hit a target located much further inland.
They managed to hit the civil-military airport in Pskov, capital of the oblast of the same name, which borders Estonia, Latvia and Belarus but is 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The attack set fire to several Il-76 military transport planes parked at the airfield, according to Tass. The governor of that region, Mikhail Vedernikov, explained in a message on Telegram that the facilities had to be temporarily closed. He added a video in which a huge fire could be seen, explosions and alarm sirens could be heard. There were no casualties, he pointed out.
Another six regions of western Russia had to activate their radars yesterday before the arrival of enemy drones. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the air defense systems managed to thwart all attacks in Briansk, Oryol, Kaluga, Ryazan, Voronezh and Moscow province. It was the biggest drone strike in Russia since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tanks and troops into Ukraine in February 2022 in what he calls a "special military operation."
Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of Moscow, where the drones did not reach this time, said it was a "massive attack attempt".
The Briansk region experienced several attacks. Above his sky the defenses shot down seven drones. Two of them were heading towards the television tower before being shot down, said the governor, Alexander Bogomaz.
The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed to have thwarted Ukrainian offensive actions on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. The department headed by Sergei Shoigu reported the destruction of four high-speed military boats carrying landing parties from the Ukrainian special forces with up to 50 people.
Although Kyiv does not usually claim responsibility for strikes on Russian soil or in Crimea, it has recently warned that the number of drone strikes against Russian targets will increase. In July, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, congratulated himself that "the war reached Russian territory." From Moscow they refer to these actions as “terrorist acts”.
In the give and take that the war has become, the territory of Ukraine was also attacked in the early hours of yesterday. There were explosions in its capital, Kyiv, as well as in the Cherkasy, Dnepropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Odesa and Kyiv region regions.
In order for Kyiv to continue defending itself, Josep Borrell demanded that EU governments help Ukraine "more and faster" during an informal meeting of defense ministers, held in Toledo.
Ukraine claimed yesterday to have shot down 28 Russian missiles and 15 of the 16 drones that were fired overnight. “Kyiv had not experienced such a powerful attack since the spring. The enemy launched a massive and combined attack using drones and missiles," Serhiy Popko, head of the Ukrainian capital's military administration, said on Telegram, according to Reuters.
Debris from the downed missiles fell on several buildings, a park and a school, Ukrainian officials said. Two people were killed by its impact.
The Russian Defense Ministry, however, claimed that its forces had attacked several Ukrainian command and reconnaissance centers. “The objectives of the attack have been achieved. All assigned targets have been neutralized,” he stated.
