Russia Reports Four Killed and Nearly 1,200 Ukrainian Drones Shot Down Overnight
Russia reports widespread downing of Ukrainian drones, with casualties in Volgograd, and Ukrainian attacks on Kyiv and Odesa resulting in civilian victims.
Translated by Qiyas from كويت نيوز — Original source
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that it had shot down approximately 1,200 Ukrainian drones overnight in a massive attack that killed four people in the Volgograd region, according to local authorities.
Conversely, Ukrainian authorities reported that new Russian attacks overnight caused a fire at a hospital and killed at least three people.
The attacks came a day after intense diplomatic activity as part of U.S.-led talks aimed at ending the war, which is nearing its fifth year. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held hours-long talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before traveling to Dublin, where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said that “during the past night … air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 1,198 Ukrainian drones” over approximately twenty Russian regions, including the Moscow area.
In the Volgograd region (south), which was among the main targets of the attack, local governor Andrey Bocharov reported that four people working in an industrial zone housing an oil refinery and a chemical company were killed.
He also stated in a Telegram post that two other people working in the area were injured and transported to the hospital.
In Ukraine, a hospital in Kyiv was damaged by a Russian attack that sparked a fire and forced people to take shelter in bomb shelters, while one person was injured.
In Odesa, two people were killed and five others were injured in overnight shelling that damaged “private residential homes and cars,” according to regional governor Oleg Kiper via Telegram.
In the southeast of the country, acting governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Mykhailo Pavlov, announced the death of a 17-year-old boy in a Russian strike on the city.
Four other people were injured, and rescue teams managed to extract them from the rubble.
Another Russian strike targeted the city of Rivne in northwestern Ukraine, damaging a kindergarten and injuring six people, including two children.
Over the past year and a half, Ukraine has intensified its drone attacks on Russia’s energy sector, attempting to reduce Kremlin revenues and weaken Moscow’s ability to fund the war it launched in February 2022.
In response, Russia has heavily targeted Ukraine’s energy grid with successive air strikes, depriving residents across the country of electricity as temperatures drop ahead of winter.
