Ukrainian military shoots down 20 drones in new Russian attack in the eve of US Secretary of State arrives in Kiev
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 20 of 25 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack.
The Ukraine’s air force added in a statement on Telegram that Russian forces also used nine missiles in the attack.
In a related context, pro-Moscow bloggers said that Russian forces regained some territory after launching a major counterattack against Ukrainian forces that penetrated western Russia last month.
On August 6, Ukraine launched its biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War II, storming across the border and penetrating the Kursk region with thousands of troops backed by swarms of drones and heavy weapons, including Western-made weapons.
Yuriy Podolyaka, a pro-Russian Ukrainian military blogger, and two other prominent bloggers said Russian forces had launched a major counteroffensive in Kursk.
Podoliaka said Russian forces had retaken several villages west of the Russian-controlled strip of land, pushing Ukrainian forces east of the Malaya Lukhnya River south of Snagov.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to arrive in Ukraine on Wednesday where he will meet with senior government officials in what he said was a crucial moment to support the country in its fight against Russian invasion.
Blinken, who is traveling to Ukraine with his British counterpart David Lammy, said he would use his visit to hear directly from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and others about Kyiv’s current goals in the war and what Washington can do to help it.
“I think this is a critical moment for Ukraine in the midst of intense fighting as Russia continues to escalate its aggression,” he added in London at a joint news conference with Lamy on Tuesday.
Zelensky is calling on Western countries to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles and lift restrictions on their use to strike targets such as military airports inside Russia.
The visit comes a day after Blinken said in London that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and was likely to use them in Ukraine within weeks, warning that cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatened broader European security.
Blinken said that the growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia poses a threat to all of Europe, adding that Washington has specifically warned Iran that supplying Russia with ballistic missiles would be a major escalation.
The United States imposed sanctions on Iran later on Tuesday over the missile transfer.
Blinken declined to say whether Washington would allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons deep inside Russia.
Later this month, Zelensky will travel to the United States and present a plan to President Joe Biden and the two candidates in the November election that he hopes will bring the war closer to an end.
