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Russia fired record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight

Russia fired record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight

Time of Indiaa day ago

Russia fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine in an overnight aerial barrage, Kyiv's air force said on Monday, the latest massive attack as Moscow rejects calls for a ceasefire.
The attack caused damage in several Ukrainian regions, though there were no reports of people killed or mass casualties.
"Enemy air strikes were recorded in 10 spots," the
Ukrainian air force
said.
The mayor of the western city of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, called it "the largest attack" on the region since the start of the war.
Russia has escalated its attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, which Kyiv says demonstrate that Moscow has no intention of halting its three-year-long invasion and is not serious about peace talks.
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The barrages have raised concerns about the capacity of Ukraine's stretched air defence systems.
But the air force said that it shot down or intercepted 460 of the drones, as well as 19 out of 20 missiles fired by Russia overnight.
Ukraine also said it had launched its own overnight strike on an electronics factory that makes parts for Russian drones, with local Russian officials saying the facility had to temporarily suspend production after the attack.

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Russia launches another large-scale drone, missile attack on Ukraine, kills 3, wounds 13
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Russia sent waves of drones and missiles in an attack on two Ukrainian cities early Tuesday that killed three people and wounded at least thirteen others, Ukrainian officials said. The attack struck the capital, Kyiv, and the southern port city of Odesa. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an online statement called the attack on Kyiv 'one of the biggest' in the war that has raged for over three years, and said that Moscow's forces had fired over 315 drones, mostly Shaheds, and seven missiles at Ukraine overnight. 'Russian missile and Shahed strikes are louder than the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,' Zelenskyy wrote, urging 'concrete action' from the US and Europe in response to the attack. A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the centre of the southern port city of Odesa were damaged in the attack, regional head Oleh Kiper said. 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Russia has been launching a record-breaking number of drones and missiles targeting Ukraine in recent days, despite both sides trading memoranda during direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 that set out conditions for a potential ceasefire. However, the inclusion of clauses that both sides see as nonstarters make any quick deal unlikely, and a ceasefire, long sought by Kyiv, remains elusive. The only tangible outcome of the talks has been in the exchange of prisoners of war, with a swap starting on Monday to release soldiers aged between 18 and 25. A similar exchange was also announced for the bodies of fallen soldiers held by both sides, although no schedule for that has been released. Asked to comment on the exchange of bodies with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it has remained unclear when it could take place and how many bodies of Russian soldiers Ukraine was going to hand over. He again accused Kyiv of dragging its feet on the exchange. There is one unarguable fact, we have had trucks with bodies standing ready for it on the border for several days,' he said in a call with reporters. Plumes of smoke were visible in Kyiv as air defence forces worked to shoot down drones and missiles Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Ukrainian residents took shelter and slept in metro stations during the hourslong attack. Nina Nosivets, 32, and her 8-month-old son, Levko, were among them. 'I just try not to think about all this, silently curled up like a mouse, wait until it all passes, the attacks. Distract the child somehow because its probably the hardest thing for him to bear,' she said. Krystyna Semak, a 37-year-old Kyiv resident, said the explosions frightened her and she ran to the metro at 2 a.m. with her rug. Russia has been launching a record-breaking number of drones and missiles targeting Ukraine while the two countries continue to swap prisoners of war, the only tangible outcome of recent direct peace talks held in Istanbul. 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Russian attack left Kyiv's world heritage cathedral damaged, says culture minister
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A Russian attack overnight damaged Saint Sophia Cathedral in the historic centre of Kyiv, one of Ukraine's most significant monuments and a designated world heritage site, the Ukrainian culture minister said on Tuesday. "Last night, the enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again," Mykola Tochytskyi wrote on Facebook, calling the 11th-century cathedral "the soul of all Ukraine." "Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a shrine which survived for centuries and symbolizes the birth of our statehood, was damaged," he said. He added that a blast wave damaged the cornice on the main apse of the landmark. Pieces of white plaster crumbled to the ground with a gap visible in a section of the cornice, Reuters video from the scene showed. This is the first time since the start of the war that the cathedral has been damaged, first deputy director general of the site Vadym Kyrylenko told reporters. But Russian drones flying close to the ground present a threat amid continuous air attacks on the capital. "As our security guards say, sometimes (drones) almost touch the crosses on the bell tower 76 meters above the ground," he said. The cathedral was added to UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1990 for its architectural importance. The United Nations' heritage body describes the white cathedral and monastery complex with green roofs and golden domes as a symbol of the "new Constantinople" created in the region. Kyrylenko reported no critical damage but said the almost 1000-year-old site will be inspected by a specialized institute and repaired. Over a year after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee placed the Saint Sophia Cathedral on the list of World Heritage in Danger "due to the threat of destruction the Russian offensive poses" to the monument and integrity of its ancient interiors, mosaics and frescoes. The site was also vulnerable to shock waves it said. "It is not only protected by our state, it is protected by the whole world. It is the heritage of the whole world," Kyrylenko said.

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