Ukraine Fires 400 Drones Toward Moscow As Zelenskyy Grapples With Protests

Ukraine fired more than 400 drones at Moscow in its latest major attack on the Russian capital, the city’s mayor said on Monday.

The attack came hours later Russia bombed Kiev and other Ukrainian cities are being fitted with ballistic missiles and incessant tit-for-tat attacks continue, with an agreement being reached to end more than 4 years of Moscow’s attacks. all-out invasion It seems like a long shot.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will hold “important talks” on Monday as he tries to defuse the domestic political crisis after last week’s events. change of government It revealed a deep divide between the military’s old guard and young innovators over how to fight the war.

Zelenskyy needs to reassure Ukrainians that he will sacrifice 35-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister and remaining loyal to 60-year-old Soviet-trained General Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander of the armed forces will not derail the fight against Russia.

Days street protests It followed Zelenskyy’s decision in favor of Fedorov and against Syrskyi.

More than 400 Ukrainian drones were sent to the Russian capital from late Sunday to early Monday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Most were shot down far from the capital and 85 were captured near Moscow, he said.

Andrei Vorobyov, head of the region around Moscow, said 10 people were injured by Ukrainian drones. He said many residential buildings and civil infrastructure facilities were damaged.

The attack sparked a fire in the Yuzhnye Vrata industrial park, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Moscow, according to Yevgeniya Khrustaleva, head of the Moscow region’s Domodedovo district.

The Astra news outlet reported that the attack also caused a fire at an oil depot in Podolsk, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Moscow, but said the attack was not officially confirmed.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces hit logistics facilities and an oil depot in the Moscow region, 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border. He also said that Ukrainian forces hit two ships and four dry cargo ships belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which were carrying sanctioned oil in the Black Sea.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims of both parties.

of Ukraine long range drone technology This rapidly developing situation during the war poses a problem for Russia, whose large landmass is difficult to fully protect. Kyiv forces specifically targeted Russian oil facilities. fuel shortage and the shameful Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In May, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that air defense systems were shot down. 1,054 Ukrainian aircraft within a 24 hour period.

While Kyiv asks foreign partners to provide it with materials sophisticated inhibitors Moscow’s forces, which can counter Russian ballistic missiles that are much more difficult to stop than unmanned aerial vehicles or cruise missiles, have sought to exploit weaknesses in Ukraine’s air defenses.

Ballistic missiles fly faster than the speed of sound and can reach Kiev in minutes; This gives air defenses little time to react and civilians to take shelter.

Russia has increased its measures in recent weeks use of ballistic missilesand on Sunday used them in a bombardment that Ukrainian officials said killed at least six people and injured dozens more.

“Russian forces launched more ballistic missiles against Ukraine in July than Russia reportedly produces each month,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in a statement late Sunday.

“Russia appears to be using its stockpiles to continue increasing the number of ballistic missiles it launches against Ukraine, as these missiles have a higher success rate than unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles,” the report said.

The head of the military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha, said that 13 people were injured in Russia’s attack on Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region. He said 11 people, including a 13-year-old girl, were hospitalized.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that its forces hit fuel tanks in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa overnight.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia fired two missiles and 94 long-range attack aircraft into Ukrainian territory overnight. He stated that air defense blocked or stopped 81 UAVs, while nine UAVs and one missile caused damage at nine locations.

You can follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine