KYIV: Moscow fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including on the western region of Rivne that has been largely spared from attacks, Kyiv said Monday, also claiming an attack on a Russian factory hundreds of miles east of Moscow.
Russia has escalated its attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, which Kyiv says demonstrate that the Kremlin has no intention of stopping its more than three-year invasion and is not serious about peace talks.
Moscow said Monday its strikes are continued retaliation for a bold Ukrainian attack on its bomber planes parked deep inside Russia, including in Siberia, that infuriated the Kremlin.
The overnight Russian attacks caused damage in several Ukrainian regions. There were no reports of people killed or mass casualties.
“Enemy air strikes were recorded in 10 spots,” the Ukrainian air force said.
The mayor of the western city of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, called it “the largest attack” on the region since the start of the war.
Kyiv mayor says Russian drones, missiles trigger fires, injure eight
Regional governor Oleksandr Koval said 70 buildings – including private houses and a nursery – were damaged in the attack.
Russia said it had targeted an airfield near the village of Dubno in the Rivne region.
“This is one of the retaliatory strikes against terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime on Russian military airfields,” its defence ministry said.
Russia had vowed revenge last week and had already called strikes on Kyiv retaliation to the brazen Ukrainian operation.
Ukraine also said it had launched its own overnight strike on an electronics factory that makes part for Russian drones, in the city of Cheboskary in Chuvashia – some 600 kilometres (372 miles) east of Moscow.
Russian officials said the facility had to temporarily suspend production after the attack.
“This morning, Ukrainian attempts to use drones in Chuvashia were detected,” Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said on Telegram, adding: “Two drones fell on the territory of the VNIIR factory.”
Ukraine’s army said the factory manufactured “antennas for Shahed” (drones). Russia fires dozens of Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones at Ukrainian cities on a daily basis.
Russia said a Ukrainian strike killed one person in its border Kursk region Monday.
The acting governor of the region, Alexander Khinstein, said the strike hit a “cultural-service centre” in the Rylsky district, killing a 64-year-old man.
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