KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s air force said Monday that Russia launched missiles and drones into 11 regions of Ukraine, carrying out airstrikes behind the front line for the 33rd straight night, marking the latest monthly barrage of drone attacks. It was announced that a record had been set.
Multiple explosions and machine gun fire could be heard in Kiev overnight as the Ukrainian capital’s air defense forces repelled a drone attack for five hours.
No casualties were reported in Kiev or other regions, but a fire hit “critical infrastructure facilities” in the southern Mykolaiv region, Governor Vitaly Kim said, without elaborating.
Since launching a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, Russia has increasingly deployed Shahed drones, rather than more expensive missiles, to bomb Ukrainian cities.
In September alone, it launched more than 1,300 Shahed drones into Ukraine. This was the largest number of drone attacks in a single month since the start of the war.
Ukraine has also developed a new generation of drones for long-range strikes on the battlefield and deep inside Russia. More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia on Sunday, Russian officials said.
Also on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin released a video commemorating the second anniversary of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories, again accusing the West of turning Ukraine into a “military base aimed at Russia.”
Putin was speaking to mark the 2022 annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions following a referendum that was condemned as a sham by the West. Russia also illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
Putin said that starting in 2022, businesses in the occupied territories will be “actively restored” and hospitals and schools will be rebuilt.
Thousands of Ukrainians have been evacuated from four regions due to the Russian invasion, but President Putin said Russia’s military operations in the country were aimed at protecting the “well-being” of the population and “the future of our children and grandchildren.” Ta.
___
Follow AP coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
