Russian drone attack hits infrastructure – DW – 11/18/2023

Russian forces launched a major overnight drone attack on Ukrainian infrastructure facilities in the south and north of the country, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday.

Ukrainian air defense says it shot down 29 out of 38 Iranian-made Shahed drones – also known as “kamikaze drones” – launched from Russian territory in an attack that lasted from 20:00 on Friday night until 04:00 on Saturday morning, and constituted the biggest drone attack in over six weeks.

In the south, the regional military command said on the Telegram messaging app that an energy infrastructure facility was hit near Odesa, while an administrative building was also damaged, wounding one civilian.

In Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region on the border with Russia and Belarus, two infrastructure buildings were damaged, while all drones targeting the capital, Kyiv, were shot down.

Both Russia and Ukraine have made extensive use of attack and reconnaissance drones throughout the 21-month war.

Last winter, Russian strikes left millions of Ukrainians without power for hours in sub-zero temperatures, a tactic Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he expects to be repeated this winter.

He told reporters on Thursday that Russia was “accumulating” missiles. While he said Ukraine did not have “100 percent protection,” he said the country’s air defenses were better than last year.