Ukraine war: Moscow claims to have foiled ‘massive’ drone attack on Russia

Kiev launched one of the largest drone strikes on Russia since the start of the all-out war, targeting power plants and an oil refinery overnight as Moscow's forces continued to advance toward a key city in eastern Ukraine, officials said on Sunday.

Ukraine also reported Russian shelling of areas near their common border. A truck driver was killed in a rocket attack on a grain convoy, and at least 28 people were injured in another attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, it said.

The fighting comes at a critical time in the two-and-a-half-year-old conflict, as Russia launches an offensive in eastern Ukraine while trying to expel Ukrainian forces that broke through the country's western border in a surprise incursion on August 6.

Russia bombarded Ukraine last week with the heaviest airstrikes of the war, hitting energy facilities, part of a wave of drone and missile attacks that have killed thousands of civilians and soldiers since the conflict began in February 2022.

Ukraine, whose drone industry is growing rapidly, has also increased its attacks on Russian energy, military and transport infrastructure.

They are also pushing the US and other allies for permission to use more powerful Western-made weapons to inflict greater damage inside Russia and weaken Moscow's ability to attack Ukraine.

Russian authorities said air defense units destroyed 158 drones launched from Ukraine overnight and debris caused fires at the Moscow oil refinery and the Konakovo power plant in the neighboring Tver region.

According to the aviation regulator Rosaviatsia, temporary restrictions imposed overnight at Moscow's Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports were lifted on Sunday morning.

Journalists have not been able to independently verify reports of drone strikes on Russia or from the Ukrainian battlefield, and Kyiv has not commented. Russia rarely discloses the full extent of the damage caused by Ukrainian airstrikes.

Russia advances in Donetsk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had used 160 missiles, 780 guided bombs and 400 combat drones against cities and troops across Ukraine in the past week alone. He again called for permission to carry out attacks deep inside Russia using weapons supplied by the West.

“To ensure comprehensive defense and protect our cities from this aggression, more support for a just Ukrainian response is needed,” he said on Telegram on Sunday.

Zelensky called for “a decision on long-range strikes on missile launch sites from Russia, the destruction of Russian military logistics, the joint launch of missiles and drones.”

Senior Ukrainian politicians were in Washington last week to further argue their position. Kyiv's allies are concerned about how Russian President Vladimir Putin would react if their weapons were used against targets deep inside Russian territory.

These appeals come as Russia accelerates its advance on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a key military hub and transport link to cities further north.

Ukraine had hoped that its surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region last month would force Russia to redeploy troops and ease pressure on besieged forces in the east, but so far it does not appear to have had the desired effect.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had captured two more settlements in the Donetsk region, including Ptyche, just 21 km southeast of Pokrovsk, and “continue to advance deep into enemy defenses.” Russian forces had also captured the settlement of Vymka, it said.

Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said the situation around Russia's main line of attack in eastern Ukraine was “difficult” but that all necessary decisions were being taken.

In Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 28 people were injured in a Russian airstrike. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said they included a six-year-old child and two paramedics.