Ukrainian drones strike Russia as Kyiv recovers from back-to-back massive air attacks

Kyiv —

Ukrainian drone strikes on southern Russia killed a 9-year-old boy and set fire to a major oil terminal, officials said Saturday, a day after Moscow launched a massive air attack on its neighbor, which the president Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky called it one of the heaviest. bombing of the country’s energy sector during the nearly three-year war.

The boy died when a drone struck his family’s home outside Belgorod, a Russian town near the border with Ukraine, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported Saturday morning on the messaging app Telegram. . His mother and 7-month-old sister were hospitalized with injuries, Gladkov said.

He posted photos of what he said were the aftermath of the attack, showing a low-slung house with gaping holes in the roof and the front wall flanked by mounds of rubble.

Elsewhere in southern Russia, Ukrainian drones struck a major oil terminal in the Orel region overnight, sparking a fire, the Ukrainian General Staff reported. Photos released by the General Staff and on Russian Telegram news channels showed huge plumes of smoke engulfing the facility, backlit by an orange glow.

Oryol Governor Andrey Klychkov confirmed that a Ukrainian drone strike set fire to a fuel depot. He later said the fire was brought under control and there were no casualties.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its forces had shot down 37 Ukrainian drones over the south and west of the country the previous night.

Russia attacks Ukraine’s energy goals

The Ukrainian strikes came a day after Russia fired 93 cruise and ballistic missiles and nearly 200 drones at its neighbor, further damaging Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, about half of which was destroyed during the war. Recurring power outages are common and widespread, and Zelenskyy on Friday accused Moscow of “terrorizing millions of people” with such attacks.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia continued its drone attacks on Saturday, launching 132 drones into Ukrainian territory. Fifty-eight drones were shot down and 72 others veered off course, likely due to electronic jamming, the statement said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces used long-range precision missiles and drones on “crucially important fuel and energy facilities in Ukraine that keep the military-industrial complex functioning” .

The strike was in retaliation for Wednesday’s Ukrainian attack using the U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACM, on a Russian air base, it said.

kyiv’s Western allies have provided Ukraine with air defense systems to help protect its critical infrastructure, but Russia has sought to overwhelm air defenses with combined strikes involving large numbers of missiles and drones called “swarms”.

Russia has taken the initiative this year as its army has steadily rammed Ukraine’s defenses in the east in a series of slow but steady offensives.

But there is uncertainty over how the war could play out next year. US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month, has pledged to end the war and cast doubt on the continuation of vital US military support for kyiv.

North Koreans reportedly in combat at Kursk

Zelensky said Saturday that a “significant number” of North Korean troops were being deployed by Moscow in assaults in the Kursk region of southern Russia, where Ukrainian troops held out after a stunning cross-border incursion this summer .

In a televised speech, Zelensky said North Korean soldiers had so far not entered combat on Ukrainian soil, but claimed they were already suffering “notable” losses.

Separately, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian shelling Friday and overnight killed at least two civilians and injured 14 others in front-line areas of southern and northeastern Ukraine.