Iran-made drones hit Kyiv
KYIV, Oct 13, (AP): Russian forces used Iranianmade kamikaze drones to attack Ukraine’s capital and Odesa regions and slammed other areas with missiles, Ukrainian officials said Thursday as Moscow punished the country for a fourth day after a truck bomb attack on a bridge to Russia-annexed Crimea.
A strike carried out near Makariv, a small city located 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Kyiv, destroyed critical infrastructure. Throughout the capital region, residents whose lives had resumed some normalcy when the war moved east months ago again awoke to air raid sirens.
Russia intensified its bombardment of civilian areas in recent weeks as its military lost ground in multiple occupied regions of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin illegally claimed as Russian territory. Putin’s supporters urged him to escalate the campaign further after the Crimea bridge attack.
It wasn’t clear if the explosive-packed drones caused any casualties. Ukrainian officials said dozens of people died this week after the Russian military ramped up the scope of its attacks, including at least two killed Thursday in a missile strike that destroyed an apartment building in southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Iranians in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine were training Russians how to use the Shahed-136 systems, which can conduct air-to-surface attacks, electronic warfare and targeting. Their deployment may indicate the Russian military is running out of its own drones.
The low-flying aerial devices help keep Ukraine’s cities on edge, but the British Defense Ministry has said the Iran-made drones were unlikely to be fulfilling their purpose of providing strike options deep into Ukrainian, with many reportedly destroyed before they hit their targets.
Ukraine’s air force command said Thursday its air defense shot down six Iranian drones from over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions during the night.
The Russian military resumed widespread attacks in Ukraine on Monday following an explosion that damaged the Kerch Bridge. The 12-mile span holds importance as a symbol of Moscow’s power and carries military supplies from Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand its immediate reversal, a sign of strong global opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to grab its neighbor’s territory.
The vote in the 193-member world body was 143-5 with 35 abstentions. It was the strongest support from the General Assembly for Ukraine and against Russia of the four resolutions it has approved since Russian troops invaded Ukraine Feb. 24.
Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, called the vote “amazing” and “a historic moment.” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said supporters were “holding our breaths” and called it “a monumental day.”