Russia said on Sunday it had foiled “massive” Ukrainian drone attacks targeting 14 of its regions and the capital Moscow, days after major strikes by the Russian army against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Key information to remember
⇒ Putin wants to “take care” of Ukrainian soldiers present in Kursk
⇒ 22 Russian missiles shot down during the night
⇒ A Ukrainian attack in Belgorod
Putin wants to “take care” of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk
Vladimir Putin assured on Monday that he will “take care” of the Ukrainian soldiers who have been on the offensive in the border region of Kursk since the beginning of August, while welcoming the fact that this operation has not been able to “stop” the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine.
“We must deal with these bandits who have penetrated into the territory of Russia, in the Kursk region, and are trying to destabilize the situation in the border territories as a whole,” the Russian president said during a meeting with schoolchildren.
Vladimir Putin, however, stressed that Ukraine “has not achieved the main task (it) set itself: to stop the (Russian) offensive in Donbass.” The Ukrainian army caught Russian forces off guard in the Kursk region, quickly seizing hundreds of square kilometers and dozens of localities, before being slowed down. According to Vladimir Putin, Russian troops are now advancing several square kilometers in each attack, and no longer a few hundred meters as before. “It has been a long time since we have seen such a pace of offensive in Donbass,” he said.
22 Russian missiles shot down overnight
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 22 Russian missiles overnight Sunday into Monday, in attacks targeting kyiv and northeastern Ukraine that injured civilians, the country’s authorities said. “During the night, Russia fired 35 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and 23 drones at Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday on X.
In a statement Monday morning, the Air Force said Russia had attacked the capital kyiv and the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv (northeast) with 14 cruise missiles, 16 ballistic missiles and 4 anti-aircraft missiles and another of a type that was still “unspecified”. Of the 35 missiles, 22 were shot down, according to the source: 9 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and 13 Kh-101 cruise missiles. In addition, 20 out of 23 Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones were neutralized, according to the Air Force.
Three injured in kyiv
In the capital, the attacks injured three people, according to the head of the Kiev military administration, Sergiy Popko. “One person received medical assistance on the spot, two others were hospitalized,” he explained on Telegram on Monday. During the night, strong explosions were heard and seen in kyiv, according to several AFP journalists, who saw people running into the streets to seek refuge in shelters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said an Islamic cultural center in the capital had been “seriously damaged” by the strikes, denouncing “barbaric acts” by Russia.
Strikes in Sumy
In the city of Sumy (northeast), a social and psychological support center for children and an orphanage were hit Sunday evening by a Russian strike, injuring 18 people, including six minors, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced on Telegram, without specifying whether this attack was part of the wave of missiles or an isolated attack carried out as part of the ground offensive.
Bombing claims one life in Kharkiv region
In the Kharkiv region (northeast), a 65-year-old woman lost her life in a shelling that hit a residential building in the early morning in Kupiansk, regional governor Oleg Synegubov announced on Telegram. “There will be an answer to everything. The enemy will feel it,” reacted Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office.
Ukrainian attack in Belgorod
On the Russian side, during the night, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported a Ukrainian airstrike that left one person injured and damaged, among other things, a business and infrastructure in the city of Belgorod.