Russia perseveres with attacks to wear down defences
RUSSIA fired salvoes of drones and missiles overnight at southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, authorities said yesterday, injuring more than a dozen people as the Kremlin’s forces persevered with attacks designed to wear down Ukrainian defences.
Air defence systems intercepted 26 out of 28 Shahed drones, Ukraine’s air force said.
Russian forces also launched five missiles overnight, it said.
The regular bombardment of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces during the war has recently gained momentum, with missile barrages of the capital Kyiv and strikes on energy facilities across the country.
The attacks also aim to weaken Ukrainian morale and act as retribution for Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian soil.
One of Russia’s goals is to
“deplete Ukraine’s inventory of ground-based air defence”, according to a recent military assessment published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
That would erode some of Ukraine’s combat ability as it waits on pledged but delayed military support from the West, including ammunition for its artillery and air defences.
“Kyiv is confronted by the threat that an attritional war in the air domain will increasingly favour Russia without adequate support from the US and its allies,” the IISS said.
“Ukraine’s ability to continue to counter Russian air threats and impose costs on the Russian aerospace forces remains important to the outcome of the war.”
Ukraine is now awaiting the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, which will help the country place pressure on Russia, from its Western partners.
Ukrainian pilots have been training in the West for months on how to fly the warplanes.
Russian president Vladimir Putin warned Ukraine’s Western allies against providing air bases in their countries from where the F-16s could launch sorties against the Kremlin’s forces, saying those bases would be a “legitimate target”.
The F-16s require a high standard of runways and reinforced hangars to protect them when they are on the ground.
Military analysts have said the arrival of potentially dozens of F-16s will not be a game-changer, though Ukrainian officials have welcomed them as an opportunity to hit back at Russia’s air dominance.
Mr Putin insisted the F-16s “won’t change the situation on the battlefield”.
“We will destroy their warplanes just as we destroy their tanks, armoured vehicles and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers,” Mr Putin said in comments to military pilots during a visit to an air base late on Wednesday.
Even so, Mr Putin said, Russia has no intention of starting a war with Nato. He said that it was
“sheer nonsense” to think that Russia could attack a Nato member country after the Ukraine war.
Authorities in the Mykolaiv region, near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, said 12 people were injured and six residential buildings were damaged in a Russian strike on the city on Wednesday afternoon with a ballistic missile.
In an overnight attack on the southern Ukraine region of Zaporizhzhia, Shahed drones struck a residential area, injuring two women aged 72 and 74, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.
The Black Sea city of Odesa repelled three missile and drone attacks, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Russian mercenary group known as Wagner is helping government forces in central and northern Mali carry out raids and drone strikes that have killed scores of civilians, human rights groups have said.
Children were among the victims of the attacks, which were carried out between December to March.
Mali, along with its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-qaeda and the Islamic State group.