Ukraine and Russia launch in a single day drone assaults amid missile strike tensions

LONDON — Ukraine’s air pressure mentioned that at the least 73 Russian assault drones entered the nation’s airspace on Saturday into Sunday morning, after every week through which each side made battlefield historical past with new superior weapons methods.

Ukraine’s air pressure mentioned it downed 50 of the 73 Russian drones that crossed into the nation. One other 19 drones have been misplaced in flight, whereas 4 extra have been nonetheless flying in Ukrainian airspace as of simply after 7 a.m. native time.

Russia’s Protection Ministry reported downing 36 Ukrainian drones in a single day Saturday and early Sunday.

The ministry mentioned its personal strikes have been a part of a wider marketing campaign of assaults on “navy airfields, manufacturing services and storage websites for drones, in addition to concentrations of enemy manpower and navy gear.”

Drone exchanges have been a relentless factor of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, with the dimensions and regularity rising because the struggle wears on. Russia additionally usually combines its UAV barrages with missile strikes.

“This week, the air alert sounded virtually day by day all through Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram early Sunday.

“Throughout the week, Russia used greater than 800 guided aerial bombs, about 460 assault drones and greater than 20 missiles of varied varieties in opposition to Ukraine and our folks,” he added.

“Ukraine isn’t a weapons testing floor,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Ukraine wants extra air protection, and we’re engaged on this with our companions. It is rather necessary to strengthen the safety of our sky.”

Tensions rose final week following Ukraine’s use of ATACMS long-range missiles in opposition to navy targets in Bryansk — the primary time Kyiv had used the superior American weapon on Russian soil.

A U.S. official additionally confirmed to ABC Information the primary Ukrainian use of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles in Russia’s western Kursk area, with a wounded North Korean basic among the many casualties.

The Kremlin response to Tuesday’s ATACMS assault was livid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off long-planned modifications to Russia’s nuclear doctrine inside hours of the strike. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned the modifications meant “using Western non-nuclear rockets by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in opposition to Russia can immediate a nuclear response.”

Russia adopted up its newest spherical of nuclear threats by putting with a brand new intermediate-range ballistic missile within the Ukrainian metropolis of Dnipro on Thursday. Moscow warned the U.S. of the “Oreshnik” missile strike half-hour beforehand.

“We contemplate ourselves entitled to make use of our weapons in opposition to navy objects of these nations that enable to make use of their very own weapons in opposition to our objects,” Putin mentioned shortly after the strike. “Within the occasion of an escalation of aggressive actions, we are going to reply decisively and in a mirror method,” the president added.

Zelenskyy, in the meantime, mentioned Moscow’s retaliatory strike confirmed that “Putin is terrified.” The Russian chief, he added, “is doing no matter it takes to forestall his neighbor from breaking freed from his grasp.”

Yehor Cherniev — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his nation’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Meeting — advised ABC Information that Kyiv wouldn’t be cowed by Russian threats.

“Ukraine has each proper to make use of the complete arsenal of accessible typical weapons to the complete depth of the aggressor’s territory,” he mentioned, shortly after the ATACMS strike in Bryansk.

“We are going to proceed to strike navy targets on the territory of the Russian Federation till the menace to Ukraine is eradicated,” Cherniev mentioned.

ABC Information’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.