Russia says air defence systems ‘intercepted and destroyed’ 75 drones over a number of regions.
Ukraine says it has carried out attacks on a number of military targets in Russia, including an airfield and oil depots, as Russian authorities reported intercepting dozens of drones over several regions.
In a post on Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Saturday its forces overnight had struck an airfield in Morozovsk, hitting ammunition depots with guided air bombs, as well as fuel storage facilities in the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions.
In Russia, local officials reported that tanks at a fuel storage depot in the Kamensky district of the Rostov region caught fire as a result of a drone attack.
The regional governor of Belgorod also said Ukraine-launched drones caused a fire at an oil storage depot there, adding that the fire was extinguished and no one was injured.
Russian officials did not address claims regarding the airfield, but Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said authorities introduced a state of emergency in the district of Morozovsk.
Golubev said the region was attacked by 55 drones, without specifying how many of these were intercepted and how many hit targets.
“At the moment we have recorded damage to the windows in several social facilities, including schools and kindergartens, as well as in residential houses and industrial premises,” Golubev said on Telegram.
For its part, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement that 36 drones were destroyed over the Rostov region.
Overall, the ministry added its air defence systems “intercepted and destroyed” 75 drones over a number of regions that lie on the border with Ukraine or not far from it, including Belgorod, Krasnodar, Kursk, Oryol, Rostov, Voronezh, and the Ryazan region deeper inside Russia. One of those drones was also shot down over the Azov sea, the statement said.
A ‘security decision’
Ukraine has stepped up aerial attacks in recent months on Russian territory, saying it carries out the strikes on sites fuelling Russia’s forces and economy in retaliation to the bombardments it has faced since President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into the neighbouring country in February 2022.
Ukrainian officials have also repeatedly called on Western allies for permission to use their weapons for long-range attacks on Russia, in addition to striking military targets close to the border.
“Russian combat aviation must be destroyed wherever it is, by all effective means. It is also quite fair to strike at Russian airfields. We need this joint decision with our partners – a security decision,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Saturday.
“This is the only way to ensure the protection of our people,” he said, adding that Russian forces had used more than 600 guided aerial bombs to attack Ukraine in the past week.
Amid a blistering Russian air campaign in recent months, Zelenskyy has placed Ukraine’s need for improved air defences at the top of his agenda at meetings with allies.
Several NATO countries have pledged to supply F-16 fighter jets and have been training Ukrainian pilots and crews for months.