Ukraine has carried out one of its biggest ever drone attacks on Russia, with videos showing a series of explosions and fires at power stations and refineries including in Moscow.
Russia’s defence ministry downplayed the overnight strikes. It said it had intercepted and destroyed 158 unmanned enemy aerial vehicles. These were shot down over 15 regions, it claimed.
The Ukrainian strikes came as Russia claimed further incremental gains in the eastern Donbas region, where its forces have been making a slow, grinding advance in recent weeks.
Footage posted on Telegram channels suggested some of the long-range Ukrainian drones hit their targets, causing damage. At least one struck an oil refinery in the Kapotnya district in south-east Moscow.
More drones hit a thermal power station in the Tver region, north of Moscow. There was an explosion at the Konakovo station, one of the biggest in Russia, soon after dawn at about 5am. An orange fireball engulfed several transformers.
Another coal-fired power plant at Kashira in Moscow oblast was also reportedly hit. The extent of the damage was unclear. Three drones were allegedly used. Russian officials said others crossed into the Voronezh, Tula, Kaluga, Bryansk, Belgorod, Lipetsk and Kursk regions.
Oh wow, so you’re telling me striking critical infrastructure is a game two can play?
Ukraine has had yet another massive drone attack on Russia, one of the largest ever.
Given the fact that Russian air defenses are so weak in areas beyond immediate war zones (even in Moscow!),… pic.twitter.com/dXAOLCny1Q
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) September 1, 2024
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s attacks on critical infrastructure inside Russia was an answer to the Kremlin’s repeated strikes on Ukrainian civilians and its own power infrastructure. “It is entirely justified for Ukrainians to respond to Russian terror by any means necessary to stop it,” he said.
Russia launched a massive attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, on Sunday. More than a dozen ballistic missiles and bombs hit buildings including Kharkiv’s giant concrete Palace of Sport. Black smoke poured from a gaping hole in its roof.
According to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister, Ihor Klymenko, five people were killed in the latest strikes. One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl. Another 55 were injured. Two adults and two children were left in a serious condition.
Bombs hit Kharkiv’s Kyiv district, near the hydropark, as well as a shopping centre in Saltivka. In 2022 the Russians shelled this north-eastern area repeatedly. Locals who lived in its high-rise apartment blocks spent months sheltering in its metro station.
Kharkiv was just hit by a dozen of Iskander missiles and S-300s, which Ukraine can’t intercept. Multiple strikes across the city, including a sports facility and residential areas. This is the largest ballistic attack on Kharkiv yet—the city is basically an open target. pic.twitter.com/vqPMjxieif
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) September 1, 2024
The newest salvo came after a Russian guided bomb smashed into a 12-storey residential building in Kharkiv on Friday. Several people died including Veronika Kozhushko, an 18-year-old artist, and a 14-year-old girl who was outside in a playground, sitting on a bench.
Zelenskiy said that over the past week the Kremlin had launched more than 160 missiles of various types, as well as 780 guided aerial bombs and 400 drones. “To fully protect and safeguard our cities from this aggression, we need greater support for Ukraine’s rightful response,” he said.
He has repeatedly called for the Biden administration to permit Ukraine to use US-supplied Atacms systems against military airfields on Russian territory. Visiting Washington last week, Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, gave US officials a list of potential high-value targets.
So far, however, the White House has refused to amend its red lines. The UK and France, which have supplied Kyiv with Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles respectively, have also not given permission. They appear reluctant to act independently from the US.
Ukraine argues that destroying Russian airbases will protects its cities and help it to stem Russian advances in the east. In recent weeks Russian troops have made rapid progress. They are 5 miles away from the city of Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian transport hub, and are closing in on the neighbouring town of Myrnohrad.
Since 6 August, Ukraine’s armed forces have occupied 100 settlements inside Russia’s Kursk region, after a surprise incursion. In recent days this offensive has slowed down. Russia has sent in troops as reinforcements from other parts of the frontline while continuing its push for Pokrovsk.
On Sunday Russia’s defence ministry said it had captured two more villages in Donetsk oblast, Ptyche and Vyimka. Thousands of civilians have left Pokrovsk following an order to evacuate. Shops, banks and businesses have closed ahead in anticipation of an imminent Russian attack.