Monday witnessed a new day of escalation and violent combat on the Russian-Ukrainian fronts. Ukrainian forces are striving to gain more ground while Kyiv seeks increased Western support against Russia.
In the latest field developments, Kyiv’s air force announced that Moscow launched 18 drones from Crimea late Sunday, which were then destroyed by Ukrainian defenses, “mostly in the Mykolaiv region.” Prior to this, the Ukrainian military reported downing 8 Russian missiles headed towards Kyiv.
The Ukrainian air force stated on Telegram: “According to preliminary information, at about 04:00 (0200 GMT) Russia began a ‘missile attack on the Kyiv region’.” The air defense destroyed eight aerial targets approaching the capital, they added. Meanwhile, Kyiv’s military administration on Telegram reported injuries in the Darnytskyi district.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated on Monday that Russia carried out an overnight air attack on the Ukrainian capital, leaving debris from downed weapons in several areas, damaging at least one residential building.
Klitschko posted on Instagram that emergency services were deployed in the Holosiivskyi district in southern Kyiv, where part of a missile landed on a residential building’s roof, and in two other city districts.
Concurrently, the Russian Federal Security Service announced the thwarting of a widespread network of Ukrainian security agents in Crimea and 14 sabotage acts this year. This included attempts to blow up six sections of a railway line, two gas distribution facilities, three electrical substations, and three vehicles. Fifteen caches prepared by Ukrainian intelligence were discovered, along with 37 explosive devices and over 200 kilograms of explosives, leading to the conviction of 10 individuals for planning sabotage.
In addition, Alexander Gordiyev, spokesperson for the Russian “East” forces group, reported on Monday that Russian forces prevented three attempts by Ukrainian troops to rotate forces near Zolotaya Niva and Novodvontsevsky in South Donetsk.
Gordiyev, as quoted by Sputnik, said: “In the South Donetsk direction, units of the Eastern forces group continue to perform their combat tasks,” thwarting three attempts by the 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Furthermore, according to Gordiyev, the artillery of the “East” forces group shelled temporary deployment points of the 58th Brigade in the Urozhayny area and personnel and equipment concentrations of the 79th Airmobile Brigade in Novomykhailovka.
In turn, operational-tactical aviation struck positions of Ukrainian forces in the Paraskoviyivka region.
