Ukrainian drones attack on Russia with hundreds of drones and Zelensky urges the US to agree on letting Kyiv target the Russian depth
Russia said on Sunday it had foiled new nighttime drone attacks, including a massive one in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine and another targeting the Russian capital, without reporting any casualties.
“Our air defenses have thwarted an attempted massive drone attack over the territory of the Bryansk region,” local governor Alexander Bogomaz said at around 01:00 (22:00 GMT Saturday).
He said on Telegram that the Russian military had detected and destroyed at least 26 drones, causing no casualties or damage.
Last week, Bogomaz said that the army had thwarted an incursion attempt by a group of Ukrainian saboteurs in this area, while the neighboring Kursk region has been witnessing an attack by Kyiv’s forces since August 6.
Overnight Saturday, Russian forces also neutralized five drones launched toward the capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
That came more than a week after what Sobyanin called one of the largest drone attacks ever on Moscow, when authorities said 11 drones were destroyed.
Russian forces also shot down drones overnight Saturday over the border regions of Belgorod and Voronezh, as well as in the Lipetsk and Ryazan regions, though local officials haven’t provided details on their numbers.
“The windows of three residential buildings in Belgorod were damaged,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
In the Oryol region, a drone was neutralized overnight, according to Governor Andrei Klychkov.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stepped up pressure on the United States to allow Kyiv to advance deeper into Russian territory after his representatives met with senior US officials in Washington on Saturday.
Washington has provided Ukraine with more than $50 billion in military aid since 2022, but has limited the use of its weapons to Ukrainian territory and cross-border defensive operations.
“Clearing the skies of Ukraine from Russian guided aerial bombs is a powerful step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and achieve a just peace,” Zelensky said in his evening video address.
“We need the capabilities to truly and fully protect Ukraine and Ukrainians,” he said in an appeal to the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
“We need both approvals for long-range capabilities as well as your long-range missiles and rockets”.
He said, without giving details, that his representatives had provided all the necessary details to Ukraine’s partners.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustam Umerov, who is in Washington with a delegation on Friday and Saturday to meet with US officials and experts, said in an interview broadcast by CNN that Kyiv had shown that Russian airfields used to bomb Ukrainian cities were within range of deep strikes.
“We’ve made clear what kind of capabilities we need to protect citizens against Russian terrorism that the Russians are inflicting on us, so I hope we will find listening ears,” Umerov said in the interview conducted late Friday.
On the same context, Zelensky is expected to make a similar appeal in person next month, when he presents a plan for victory to President Joe Biden near the end of his White House tenure, and he will also attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko, who led Kyiv’s delegation, said in a post on the X website that they discussed steps needed to restore Ukraine’s energy system, including a significant contribution through an $800 million energy sector financing package announced in June.
She added that Russian airstrikes affected more than half of Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure.
