Russia Fires Nearly 400 Drones In Deadly Attack On Ukrainian Civilians

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive Russian drone and missile attack on civilian areas of Ukraine killed six people and injured at least 46, officials said Tuesday, while Moscow’s military is stepping up efforts to break through Ukraine’s front-line defenses in an action that could be the beginning of an expected spring ground offensive.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired nearly 400 long-range drones into Ukraine overnight in its biggest attack in weeks. The attack continued into Tuesday, with dozens of drones targeting the capital Kiev in broad daylight.

In his statement on the X channel, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Russia hit at least seven cities by launching Iranian-designed Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles.

Russia also launched 23 cruise missiles and seven ballistic missiles into Ukraine overnight, hitting at least 10 sites across the country, according to the air force. Regional officials said 13 people, including three children, were injured in daytime attacks in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, while another daytime attack hit an apartment block in the center of the western city of Lviv near the Polish border, injuring 13 people.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the Lviv attack was aimed at the city’s 17th-century St. Petersburg building, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. He said he set fire to St. Andrew’s Church.

Maternity hospitals and about 10 apartment buildings were damaged in the attack in the central city of Ivano-Frankivsk, according to the head of the regional military administration, Svitlana Onyshchuk. Two people, including a 6-year-old child, were killed and four people were injured, the official said.

Ukrainian civilians have endured relentless barrage since Russia took action a full scale invasion from his neighbor more than four years ago. US-mediated talks between Moscow and Kiev last year never stopped after Russia rejected Ukraine’s ceasefire offer, and in recent weeks Russia’s Iran war diverted international attention from Ukraine’s plight.

On a nearly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line that snaked across the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, the short-handed defenders preparing for a new attack By Russia’s larger army as the weather improves.

Commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Russian troops have made simultaneous attempts to break through the defense lines in many strategic regions in recent days.

“There were violent clashes along the entire line of contact,” Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app on Monday, with Russia carrying out 619 attacks in four days.

“The invaders are trying to form new troops and are preparing to continue the attacks,” Syrskyi said, adding that Ukraine had sent reinforcements to counter the attacks.

It was not possible to independently verify the battlefield claims.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Syrskyi’s report supported its assessment that Russia’s spring-summer offensive is now underway.

Russia has stepped up its attacks since March 17 and moved heavy equipment and more troops to the front lines, the ISW said in a statement late Monday.

As the weather improves each year, Russia gears up its war of attrition. However, he failed to capture the cities and only made incremental gains in rural areas. Russia occupies approximately 20 percent of Ukraine. This includes the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia captured in 2014.

A Ukrainian soldier fighting near the city of Lyman in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the complete capture of which is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main occupation targets, said that Russian forces have intensified their attacks in recent days but have not made any progress despite increased bombardments and repeated ground attacks.

Russian troops had previously tried to isolate Lyman by targeting logistics routes before escalating their attacks, according to the soldier, who gave only the call sign King in accordance with Ukrainian army rules.

He said Ukrainian troops repelled the initial attacks, destroying the advancing Russian troops and causing significant losses in armored vehicles and personnel. In response, Russian forces increased air strikes on the town, including the use of powerful glide bombs.

“The situation is tense but not critical,” King said.

Ukraine developed advanced drone technology To compensate for the lack of infantry.

In the midst of conflicts in the Middle East, Kyiv offers Ukraine is expected to offer its battle-tested drone defenses to the United States and its Gulf partners, hoping to exchange that know-how for the small number of Patriot air defense missiles it needs to fend off Russia’s barrages.

Ukraine has also used domestically produced long-range drones to strike areas of Russia that support Moscow’s war effort. Russian air defenses intercepted 55 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian territories, annexed Crimea and the Black Sea, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.

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