Russian targets deep inside its territory come under revenge attack from Ukraine as more than 119 deadly kamikaze drones smash into targets or force defence teams to shoot them down and Ukraine mourns Sunday slaughter
Ukraine has hit Russian targets with waves of more than 100 deadly drones in revenge for a Kremlin double-tap missile onslaught at the weekend. In one if the most deadly attacks since war began two Russian ballistic missiles killed 35 and injured more than 100 in the centre of border town Sumy on Sunday.
Overnight from Monday to Tuesday Kyiv commanders ordered drone teams to hit Russian targets with well over 115 explosive drone strikes. One civilian died in the attack inside Russia and nine were injured even as Ukrainian locals were mourning loved one killed in the Sumy incident. The Russian attack on Sunday was particularly grotesque as it was a ‘double-tap’ in which a second weapon was timed to hit rescuers.
And it also caused more horrific injuries because the missiles were load with cluster munitions, releasing smaller bomblets that explode over wider area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the Kremlin attackers “deranged scum,” and it came just days after a similar strike on his home town of Kryvyi Rih.
Moscow’s defence officials claimed 115 of the Ukrainian kamikaze drones were intercepted, 109 of them over Kursk, where Ukrainian troops are still battling. Other Ukrainian drones were downed in the Russian regions of Voronezh, Bryansk, Orel and Moscow.
An 85-year-old woman was killed in the strikes on Kursk, a city near the Ukrainian border. Authorities said the injured suffered shrapnel wounds, traumatic brain injuries and burns. Multiple fires broke out in residential buildings. The eighth and ninth floors of a high-rise were damaged, and five floors burned in another building.
Officials said metal fragments, including steel balls, were found at one of the impact sites. Several residents were relocated to temporary shelters. A drone also struck an ambulance garage, damaging 11 vehicles and three private homes were reportedly hit.
In recent months Ukraine has launched deep strike drone attacks inside Russia, aimed at ammunition dumps, fuel depots and missile factories. It is keen to attack over the border because Russia launches most of its air-strikes from inside its own territory, its fighter bombers rarely crossing over.
Last month Ukraine hit a Russian Strategic Bomber airfield from where it had been launching missile strikes on Ukraine. The base in Engels, which dates back to Soviet times, hosts Russia’s Tupolev Tu-160 nuclear-capable heavy bombers, known unofficially as White Swans. Locals said the airfield, 450 miles from Ukraine, was left on fire after being devastated by explosive drones, triggering a huge blast.
Security sources in the UK said these attacks between Russia and Ukraine are likely to increase in the coming weeks. Both are keen to show off their military prowess and show the world they can win the war.
One source said: “Often when there is talk of peace violence in the build-up to peace talks worsens as they try to exert a better deal, especially when the war is over territory. This kind of escalation is to be expected.”
In another attack earlier this month the Ukrainian military blew up a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber capable of carrying deadly Kh-22 cruise missiles, using an explosive drone.
Cross-border violence is raging whilst both sides try to exert and gain leverage from the other in the countdown to more tangible peace talks with US negotiators.