Ukraine faced one of its most extensive drone assaults in recent months as Russia launched 136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at various targets across the country, including the capital Kyiv and other major cities, Ukrainian officials reported on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian Air Force stated that they successfully intercepted 51 of the 136 drones used in the attack. Twenty drones were still airborne at the time of reporting, while 60 were unaccounted for, possibly neutralized by electronic warfare systems.
In the western region of Ternopil, the attack ignited a “large-scale fire” at an industrial facility, requiring the response of nearly 50 firefighters. The regional military administration reported on Telegram that the blaze was extinguished without any injuries, though they declined to identify the specific facility affected.
The assault extended beyond drones, with the air force reporting that Russia also fired two missiles targeting the northern Chernihiv and eastern Donetsk regions. The outcome of these missile strikes was not immediately clear.
Kyiv, the nation’s capital, was a primary target of the drone attack. Serhiy Popko, chief of the city’s military administration, confirmed that all drones aimed at Kyiv were destroyed, with no reports of damage or casualties within the city limits.
However, the region surrounding Kyiv did not escape unscathed. Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported that the attack caused a fire at a private residence and damaged several other buildings in the area outside the capital. The region remained under air alert for over 12 hours due to the prolonged nature of the assault.
This latest attack continues Russia’s strategy of targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, particularly power facilities. The strikes have raised concerns about potential long-term blackouts and other outages as winter approaches, threatening to make life difficult for civilians far from the front lines.
The impact of these attacks was evident in the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv, where governors reported significant power cuts on Wednesday. In Mykolaiv alone, energy authorities stated that 272,000 consumers were affected by the outages. Regional Governor Vitaliy Kim clarified that this widespread power loss was not a direct result of the overnight strike and that efforts were underway to restore electricity within the next few hours.
