Ukraine launched a major overnight attack on a dozen Russian regions, Russian-held Crimea and surrounding seas, Moscowโs defense ministry said Friday, in what appears to be one of the biggest drone attacks on Kyiv since the Kremlinโs full-scale invasion more than four years ago.
Russian air defense intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. The previous largest Ukrainian drone attack in the past year, in which Ukraine accelerated its drone development, occurred on May 17.
In an attempt to turn the tide in Russiaโs war of attrition, long-range Ukrainian drones have been striking oil and energy facilities behind the front lines and deep inside Russia for months.
The campaign has strangled Russian fuel and military supplies, stymied its efforts on the battlefield and increased pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Western officials and analysts say.
People line up to fill up their cars at a Lukoil gas station in Moscow on Wednesday. Ukrainian drone attacks have led to fuel shortages in Russia. (Igor Ivanko/AFP/Getty Images)
Initial damage reports from Russia after the overnight attack contained scant information. The Russian Ministry of Defense generally does not say what target the Ukrainian drones were attacked for or specify any damage.
Russian independent online publication Astra reported that a chemical plant and hydroelectric power station in Novomoskovsk were attacked and caught fire. The Associated Press could not independently verify the report and there was no official confirmation.
Russian independent online publication Astra reported that a chemical plant and hydroelectric power station in Novomoskovsk were attacked and caught fire. The Associated Press could not independently verify the report and there was no official confirmation.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 47 Ukrainian drones were shot down on the way to the Russian capital. He did not report casualties or damage.
Ukraineโs security service said it used drones to strike Russian navy ships and air defense radars in Kerch, an important port city in Crimea.
The targets were two reconnaissance and mining ships โVolgaโ and โVyatkaโ, as well as the cargo-passenger ferry โPetropavlovskโ, the agency said, claiming that the attacks caused a large fire. The claim could not be independently verified.
The major attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X that he had ordered a โ40-day influence operationโ believed to mark an escalation of attacks aimed at โgetting (Russia) to end the warโ after US peace efforts over the past year failed to produce a breakthrough.
Still, as has sometimes happened in the past, Russia and Ukraine swapped prisoners of war, with 160 on each side returning home Friday, officials said.
Ukraine has accumulated a list of successful strikes, including on targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Zelensky said he received further promises of foreign support when he attended the recent G7 leadersโ summit, including from US President Donald Trump, and that the promised help would help Ukraine step up its efforts to force Putin to the negotiating table.
The NATO summit next month could be another key moment in strengthening Ukraineโs armed forces.
Two killed in Kharkov
Two people were killed and seven were injured as a result of Russian attacks in the northeast of the Kharkov region over the previous 24 hours, the head of the region Oleg Sinegubov said on Friday.
Russian troops attacked the city of Kharkov and 16 other settlements in the region, Sinegubov added.
In this photo provided by Ukraineโs Emergency Situations Service, firefighters extinguish a fire in a residential building after a Russian drone attack in Sumy on Friday. (Ukrainian Emergency Service/Associated Press)
On Friday morning, another Russian drone attack on the center of the city of Izyum in the Kharkov region killed a woman and injured three more people, emergency services reported.
The attacks in the capital Kyiv, the southern Odessa and Zaporozhye regions, and Sumy in the northeast left at least 19 people injured, including a nine-year-old child, authorities said. Some Russian attacks used powerful glide bombs and also targeted gas stations.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Ukrainian defenses stopped 174 of 189 Russian drones. However, four of the seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles fired bypassed air defenses and hit various targets, the report said.
Smoke rises in the distance Friday after a Russian military strike in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. (Reuters)
Russia is expanding several of its military facilities deeper into Belarus, but there is no buildup of forces near the Ukrainian border, a State Border Service spokesman said Friday.
Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in 2022 from Belarus, which borders both countries, and Kyiv closely monitored developments there during the war.
Ukrainian intelligence units have not detected any groups or reinforcements of Russian units, equipment or personnel near the border, spokesman Andrei Demchenko said in comments to Ukrainian television.
However, according to intelligence units, Russia has a growing number of training grounds, bases and other facilities in the interior of the country.