Regional and military officials reported today that the Ukrainian Air Force intercepted and shot down 16 out of 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight. This marks the fifth attack this week on the Odessa region in southern Ukraine.
Since mid-July, Russia has intensified aerial attacks targeting Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure along the Danube River and in the Odessa port. This escalation followed Moscow’s withdrawal from a United Nations-mediated agreement that previously ensured the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
Oleh Kieber, the governor of the Odessa region, communicated via the Telegram app, stating, “Overnight, Russian terrorists targeted the Odessa region for the fifth time this week.” The southern military command confirmed that 14 drones were brought down over Odessa and another two near the Mykolaiv area. They added that these drones originated from Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Kieber noted damage to a non-residential building due to drone debris but did not provide further specifics. There were no reported casualties in the Odessa area.
Furthermore, regional officials shared that Russia also targeted Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine and Sumy in the northeast with missiles, resulting in several injuries. Ukrainian emergency services reported that two individuals were wounded in Sumy and released a video showing rescue workers extracting an injured woman from an explosion crater.
A statement from the emergency services confirmed the rescue of a 65-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man following damage to a two-story residential building.
In another development, a Ukrainian regional governor reported a Russian missile strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih this Friday morning, resulting in one fatality and nine injuries. Serhiy Lysak, communicating via Telegram, said the missile hit an administrative building.
In related news, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Friday that they thwarted a “terrorist attack” on a railway facility in the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
