Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it shot down 28 of 38 Russian drones that targeted areas of central and eastern Ukraine overnight.
The Ukrainian air force said the intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Sumy regions.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the attacks injured one person.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it destroyed one Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region.
On Monday, the Russian military said its forces captured an important town in eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian officials cited tens of thousands of Russian casualties in the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its control of the town of Kurakhove after several months of fighting for the logistics hub will allow the Russian military to more quickly advance elsewhere in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian officials did not confirm the loss of Kurakhove on Monday, with the military’s General Staff saying in a late Monday report that Russian forces had launched attacks on Ukrainian positions in the town.
Russian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Monday that the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, which began five months ago, had caused 38,000 Russian military casualties.
“The Russians have deployed their strongest units to Kursk, including soldiers from North Korea. Importantly, all this manpower cannot now be redirected to other fronts – neither to the Donetsk region, nor against Sumy, the Kharkiv region or Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier Monday that North Korea and China are the “biggest ongoing drivers” allowing Russia to carry out its war in Ukraine, and that security assurances will need to be a part of potential future negotiations ending the conflict.
Speaking during a visit to South Korea, Blinken said North Korean supplies of artillery, ammunition and troops, along with Chinese support for Russia’s military industrial base are giving the Russian military the backing it needs to continue carrying out the fight it started in February 2022.
Some information for this report was provided by from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
