According to Kyiv military officials, Russia attacked Ukraine with 32 drones overnight into Sunday, most of which were pointed at the capital.
They continued without mentioning the other seven, saying that air defences shot down 25 of them.
The aerial assault occurs as national authorities intensify their pleas for more Western assistance to stave off the Russian invasion.
“The occupiers attacked Ukraine with 32 kamikaze drones… of which 25 were destroyed by Ukrainian air defence forces,” the general staff of the armed forces claimed.
They claimed that “the Russian occupiers directed the majority of the attack UAVs to the Kyiv region.”
According to Sergiy Popko, chief of the Kyiv City Military Administration, “drones entered the capital in groups and from different directions.”
According to him, debris that fell in numerous districts damaged power lines, road surfaces, and one person was hurt in addition to an apartment in a multi-story building.
Early on in the invasion that started last year, Russia deliberately targeted Ukrainian cities, but as Moscow’s supplies have decreased and Ukraine has strengthened its air defences, big strikes have grown less common.
In what it referred to as the “most powerful strike” on the capital since spring, Kyiv last month destroyed more than 20 drones and missiles.
Speaking on Saturday, a number of senior Ukrainian officials painted a picture of a nation at war being restrained by allies who had failed to recognise the gravity and urgency of the situation.
Rustem Umerov, the recently appointed defence minister, advocated for more military hardware.
“We appreciate all the help that was given… In his remarks, Umerov stated that more heavy weaponry were required.
But he continued, “We need them right now. They are presently necessary.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the counteroffensive against Russian positions in the country’s east and south is being hampered by the tardy arrival of Western armaments.
Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy intelligence chief, claimed on Saturday that Russia has more than 420,000 soldiers in Crimea and the east and south of Ukraine.
Skibitsky added that Russia, which took Crimea in 2014, had been actively launching attacks from there for a month.
Particularly since the agreement allowing grain shipments on the Black Sea expired, “Drones deployed in Crimea are used against our ports of Izmail and Reni” utilised as substitute export hubs.
In June, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the country’s east and south, but it has encountered severe resistance from firmly established Russian soldiers.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil, according to intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, have primarily been directed at military targets.
All of the targets, according to Budanov, are businesses affiliated with the military-industrial complex. “This is how we differ from Russians,” said the speaker.
At the outset of the offensive, attacks on Russian territory were uncommon, but they have increased recently, with Kyiv increasingly taking the blame.
Civilians have reportedly been killed in certain Ukrainian attacks, according to Russian authorities.
The lack of progress in establishing an international court to try Russian leaders and in transferring frozen Russian assets was also lamented by Ukrainian authorities.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated, “Unfortunately, we are kind of at a standstill on both.”
He asserted that the G7 group supported a hybrid court based on Ukrainian law.
“A failure of will”
However, doing so would prevent the immunity of Russian leaders Mikhail Mishustin, Vladimir Putin, and Sergei Lavrov from being revoked, which Kyiv considers to be an unacceptable alternative.
Ukrainian politicians are advocating for an international tribunal like the Nuremberg trial after World War II.
Additionally, Kuleba noted that not enough progress had been made in transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine for use in that nation’s reconstruction.
Kuleba spoke at a conference in Kyiv on Friday, but his remarks weren’t made public until Saturday. “After a year and a half, I’m still hearing from Europe and America: we are working on it,” he added.
“There is no desire to reach a decision. Therefore, we must alter it.
Western sanctions have resulted in the freezing of about €300 billion ($320 billion) in Central Bank of Russia foreign exchange holdings worldwide since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
