Reports have emerged of Russia and Ukraine engaging in mass drone attacks on each other's territories for the second consecutive day, with one such attack allegedly aimed at a Russian military airport.
The Russian Defense Ministry, in a statement on the messaging app Telegram, claimed that at least 35 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and shot down over three regions in southwestern Russia. A Russian air base, which houses bomber aircraft used in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, was reportedly among the targets. This information was shared by a Russian Telegram channel that is known for its criticism of the Kremlin.
The channel shared brief video clips of drones flying over low-rise residential areas in what it claimed to be the Russian town of Morozovsk. This town is home to Russias 559th Bomber Aviation Regiment.
Vasily Golubev, the governor of Russias Rostov province, separately reported mass drone strikes near Morozovsk and another town located further west. However, he did not mention the air base. Golubev stated that most of the drones were shot down and that there were no casualties. He did not comment on any potential damage.
As of Sunday evening, Kyiv had not formally acknowledged or claimed responsibility for the drone attacks.
An anonymous source in the security services, cited by a major Ukrainian newspaper, Ukrainska Pravda, claimed that Ukraines army and intelligence services successfully struck the Morozovsk air base, inflicting significant damage to military equipment. However, this claim could not be immediately verified.
On Sunday morning, Ukraines air force reported that it had shot down 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched overnight by Russian troops in southern and western Ukraine, as well as one X-59 cruise missile launched from the countrys occupied south.
A civilian was reportedly killed overnight near Odesa, a key port on Ukraines southern Black Sea coast, after the remnants of a destroyed drone fell on his house, according to Ukraines military.
These escalated drone attacks over the past month come as both sides are eager to demonstrate that they are not at a stalemate as the war approaches its two-year mark. Despite a Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in June, neither side has made significant territorial gains.
On Sunday, Russian shelling reportedly killed an 81-year-old man in central Kherson, a southern Ukrainian city that was recaptured by Kyivs forces last fall. This was reported by the head of its municipal military administration.
There were reports of an exchange of fire between Ukrainian and Russian forces outside Terebreno, a Russian village just miles from the Ukrainian border, according to Telegram posts by Governor Vasily Gladkov. He did not provide details but insisted that Russian authorities had the situation under control.
According to Baza, a Telegram news channel set up by Russian journalists critical of the Kremlin, fighting between Russian troops and a Ukrainian diversionary group began around 11 a.m. near Terebreno, home to some 200 people, forcing residents to hide in shelters.
Hours later, a 69-year-old woman was reported killed in a Ukrainian border village in the northern Sumy region, about 15 miles west of Terebreno.
According to the Ukrainian regional prosecutors office, the woman died after a Russian shell flew into her home. It wasnt immediately clear whether her death was linked to the reported clashes.
Late on Sunday afternoon, a Ukrainian border force official reported in a video statement that multiple Russian sabotage and reconnaissance operatives had crossed into Ukraines northern Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
Andriy Demchenko claimed that Ukrainian border guards and territorial defense units succeeded in pushing them back into Russia.
While cross-border raids on Russian territory from Ukraine are rare, the Russian military claimed in May to have killed more than 70 attackers, describing them as Ukrainian military saboteurs, in a 24-hour battle. Kyiv portrayed the incident as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.
Ukraines foreign minister, meanwhile, welcomed what he called a sea change in Germanys approach toward Kyivs European Union membership bid.
In an interview with Germanys Bild newspaper, Dmytro Kuleba said that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has won sincere and well-deserved admiration among Ukrainians for his role in the EUs recent decision to open membership talks for Kyiv.
Ukraine has long faced strong opposition in its attempts to join the 27-member bloc from Hungarys Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, who has repeatedly spoken of his desire to maintain close ties with Russia.
Scholz said that at an EU summit last week he proposed that Orbn leave the room to enable the summit to launch accession talks with Ukraine, something that the Hungarian leader agreed to do.
What German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did at the summit to remove the threatened Hungarian veto will go down in history as an act of German leadership in the interests of Europe. The chancellor has this week won a lot of sincere and well-deserved admiration in the hearts of Ukrainians, Kuleba told Bild.
He also voiced hope that Scholz actions would mark a broader and irreversible shift in Berlins approach towards EU negotiations with Kyiv.
When I campaigned in Berlin last May to grant Ukraine EU candidate status, my appeals to Germany to take the lead in this process mostly fell on deaf ears. Germany doesnt want to lead, experts and politicians in Berlin told me. I am glad that German political decisions have changed since then, Kuleba said.
The Ukrainian government has long cast EU and NATO membership as key foreign policy goals, and the EUs decision to start accelerated negotiations gave Kyiv a major boost although it could be years before its able to join.
NATO leaders, meanwhile, havent set any clear timeline so far for Kyivs membership bid, even as Moscows all-out invasion of Ukraine led another of Russias neighbors, Finland, to be accepted into the military alliance in April.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to build up military units near the Russian-Finnish border.
The Kremlin leader declared, without giving details, that Helsinkis NATO accession would create problems for the Nordic country.
There were no problems (between Russia and Finland). Now, there will be. Because we will create (a new) military district and concentrate certain military units there, he told Russian state television on Sunday morning.
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