A Russian drone attack hits the infrastructure – DW – 11/18/2023

The Ukrainian army said on Saturday that Russian forces launched a major drone attack overnight on Ukrainian infrastructure facilities in the south and north of the country.

Ukrainian air defenses say they shot down 29 out of 38 Iranian-made Shahed drones – also known as “kamikaze drones” – launched from Russian territory in an attack that lasted from 20:00 on Friday evening until 04:00 on Saturday morning. . It constitutes the largest drone attack in more than six weeks.

In the south, the regional military command said via messaging app Telegram that an energy infrastructure facility was bombed near Odessa, while an administrative building was also damaged, leaving a civilian injured.

In the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine on the border with Russia and Belarus, two infrastructure buildings were damaged, while all drones targeting the capital, Kiev, were shot down.

Both Russia and Ukraine have used offensive and reconnaissance drones extensively throughout the 21-month war.

Last winter, Russian strikes left millions of Ukrainians without power for hours in subzero temperatures, a tactic Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he expects to repeat this winter.

He told reporters on Thursday that Russia was “accumulating” missiles. While he said Ukraine was not “100 percent protected,” he said the country’s air defenses were better than last year.