KYIV, UKRAINE (AP) – The death toll from a missile attack on apartment buildings in a southern Ukrainian city rose to 11 as more Russian missiles and – for the first time – explosive packed drones targetted Ukrainian-held Zaporizhzhia yesterday.
Putin this week illegally claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory, including the Zaporizhzhia region that is home to a sprawling nuclear power plant under Russian occupation; the city remains under Ukrainian control.
With its army losing ground to a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the country’s south and east, Russia has deployed drones to attack Ukrainian targets. The unmanned, disposable “kamikaze drones” are cheaper and less sophisticated than missiles but have proved effective at causing damage to targets on the ground.The regional governor, Oleksandr Starukh, said Shahed-136 drones damaged two infrastructure facilities in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the first time they were used there. He said missiles also struck the city again, injuring one person.
The Emergency Services of Ukraine said the toll of Russian S-300 missile strikes on the city a day earlier rose to 11 and another 21 people were rescued from the rubble of destroyed apartments.
“This was not a random hit, but a series of missiles aimed at multi-story buildings,” Starukh wrote on his Telegram channel.
Russia was reported to have converted the S-300 from its original use as a long-range antiaircraft weapon into a missile for ground attacks because of a shortage of other, more suitable weapons.
The Ukrainian military said most of the drones it shot down on Thursday were the Shahed-136.
The weapons are unlikely to significantly affect the course of the war, however, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.
“They have used many drones against civilian targets in rear areas, likely hoping to generate nonlinear effects through terror. Such efforts are not succeeding,” analysts at the think tank wrote.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ability to capture and put back into service Russian tanks and other equipment continues to be an important factor in its forces’ push to repel the invasion.
Ukrainian forces have captured at least 440 tanks and about 650 armoured vehicles since the start of the war, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said yesterday.
“The failure of Russian crews to destroy intact equipment before withdrawing or surrendering highlights their poor state of training and low levels of battle discipline,” the British said. “With Russian formations under sever strain in several sectors and increasingly demoralised troops, Russia will likely continue to lose heavy weaponry.”
