Ukraine and Russia exchange air, sea drones in overnight strikes

(LONDON) — Ukrainian and Russian authorities reported dueling drone attacks overnight into Thursday as an intense and bloody week of long-range strikes continued.

The Kyiv City Military Administration posted on Telegram early on Thursday to report “another sustained massive attack by Russian attack drones,” citing administration head Serhiy Popko.

The capital’s air raid sirens began sounding before midnight, and the threat lasted for more than nine hours, Popko said.

“Almost all the southern, northern, eastern, central and part of the western regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, were under the threat of an air strike,” he said.

“All drones that threatened the capital were neutralized,” Popko said, noting no casualties or damage were reported in the capital.

The Ukrainian air force issued drone, bomb and missile warnings via its Telegram channel throughout the night and into Thursday morning, reporting one Iskander-M ballistic missile and 78 Shahed UAVs fired into the country.

Ukrainian defenses downed 60 attack UAVs, the air force said, with two drones returning back into Russian airspace and one into Belarusian. Fifteen were “lost” over Ukrainian territory, it added.

Strikes also continued close to the front. Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, noted explosions near the town of Nikpol, along the Dnieper River which forms part of the contact line with Russian forces. Among the weapons used were attack drones, Lysak said.

In Sumy — close to Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia — local authorities reported 37 explosions overnight, from a range of weapons including glide bombs and an FPV drone.

The Ukrainian General Staff on Thursday morning reported 14 missiles and 72 airstrikes in the previous 24 hours.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that its air defense teams intercepted one Vilkha rocket and two drones over the territory of the Belgorod region, three drones over the Kursk region and two more over the Bryansk region.

The ministry also said its forces destroyed two “unmanned boats” in the “north-eastern part of the Black Sea.”

Unconfirmed reports circulating on social media suggested a fire at the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk following a possible naval drone attack.

The overnight exchanges even expanded into Belarusian airspace, Minsk confirmed, reporting “a violation” of its state borders, “presumably by unmanned aerial vehicles.”

“A decision was made to destroy them,” the Defense Ministry wrote on Telegram. “Timely actions by the air defense forces on duty destroyed all the intruder targets. An investigation is being conducted into this incident.”

The ministry did not offer any information on who was responsible for the UAVs, nor confirm how many aircraft were downed.