Moscow.- Russia and Ukraine returned to star today in a disturbing duel of drones, which this time were shot down by the anti-aircraft defenses of both sides, while the eastern front of Kharkiv, bordering on Donbas, now centers the bloodiest fighting.
The Kiev batteries managed to shoot down up to fifteen Iranian-made Russian “Shahed 136/131” drones during the early morning without registering injuries or serious damage.
Unmanned devices have monopolized the leading role for weeks both in the air, be it in Moscow, Kiev or Crimea, and in the waters of the Black Sea, which has forced Russia to take extraordinary measures.
COVERY SKIES OVER kyiv
The attack was “massive” and the air alarm lasted for three hours, according to the military administration of the Ukrainian capital.
The Air Force specified that the attacks were carried out from Briansk, a Russian region that borders Ukraine.
kyiv had already been the scene the previous morning of a bombardment with ten drones, which were shot down but whose fragments caused damage to administrative buildings.
In addition, Russian artillery attacked the capital of the Kherson region on Thursday, where eight people were injured, four of them passengers, when a shell hit a trolleybus.
Another shell hit this morning against the Cathedral of Saint Catherine, according to authorities loyal to kyiv, and against a building where the Greek consulate is located, which has been out of service for a year and a half.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, 10,749 Ukrainian civilians, 499 of them minors, have died since the start of the conflict, to which must be added 15,599 wounded.
RUSSIAN MOTOR CAPITAL UNDER ATTACK
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Thursday the downing of seven drones in the Kaluga region, which is about 600 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The military statement, which specified that there were no victims, called this action an “attempted terrorist attack on kyiv.”
Kaluga, known as the motor capital of this country for hosting numerous factories of the automotive industry, is a scapegoat, since it borders the Moscow region.
Kiev has expanded the radius of action of its attacks in recent weeks to reach Moscow, where it hit two skyscrapers in Moscow City, the financial heart of the Russian capital, last Saturday and this Tuesday.
As part of additional measures to guarantee the security of civilian infrastructure, the Russian Defense Ministry has restricted navigation through the Kerch Strait, where the Crimean bridge is located, linking the annexed peninsula with mainland Russia.
THE BATTLE OF KUPIANSK
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the Russians assure that they continue to make progress towards the Ukrainian stronghold of Kupiansk, in the Kharkov region, whose conquest would allow Moscow to try to envelop the enemy places in Donbas.
“On the Kupiansk front, the assault units of the Western Group of Forces carried out offensive actions on a broad front and improved their positions,” General Igor Konashenkov, military spokesman, reported in his war report.
Kiev military spokesmen acknowledge that Russia has deployed some 100,000 men in that area of the front, but Ukrainian soldiers who resist in the trenches in Kupiansk told EFE today that they have inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy and neutralized the bulk of the Russian forces.
THE HUNGER GAMES
The other no less deadly conflict between the Russians and the Ukrainians, the grain war, also intensified with Kiev’s call to Moscow to stop what it calls the “hunger games”, seconded today by the head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
“Moscow fights for the sake of a global catastrophe. In its madness, (Russia) wants the collapse of world food markets, it needs a price crisis and interruptions in supplies,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky denounced on Telegram.
As the Kremlin insists it will only return to the Black Sea Initiative if its conditions are met, Kiev has turned to the UN Security Council to force Moscow to honor those deals, since its departure two weeks ago and attacks on Ukrainian port terminals have already caused prices to rise.
