Ukraine has attacked the city of Volgograd with drones early this morning, about 400 kilometers from the border, causing the death of a 48-year-old man and a fire in an industrial area in the Krasnoarmeiski district, as reported by the regional governor.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia reported that 75 Ukrainian drones were shot down last night, with 49 of them in the Volgograd region. The impact of the drones and falling debris caused damage to a 24-story residential building and several nearby homes.
The attack forced flights to be suspended at 13 Russian airports and is part of a Ukrainian campaign aimed at targeting Russian energy and industrial infrastructure.
Russia Attacks Railway Infrastructure in Three Regions of Ukraine
Russia targeted railway infrastructure in three regions of Ukraine in its drone attack last night, as reported by Ukrainian Minister for Reconstruction, Oleksí Kuleba.
The attacked regions are Kharkiv (northeast), Chernihiv (north), and Dnipropetrovsk (central-east), all of which share the characteristic of being border areas or areas where hostilities are taking place, indicating that the Russians are seeking to disrupt armament supplies and isolate these parts of the country, according to Efe.
"Kharkiv has been attacked, where the enemy is trying to hinder connections to the eastern part of the country," Kuleba wrote on his social media, adding that some railway routes are being diverted due to the attack.
In Chernihiv, in the north, the attack affected a route connecting the region to southern Ukraine, the minister stated. Trains are operating there using "reserve locomotives," Kuleba mentioned.
According to the national railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, the attack caused delays of up to five hours on some routes.
Russian Military Aims to Take Kupiansk Within a Week
Russian military forces expect to complete the capture of the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region within a week, as reported by a unit commander in a video released by the country's Ministry of Defense.
"I trust that the city will be completely liberated next week," stated the Russian military official, noting that in the past 24 hours, Russian forces expanded their control over dozens of buildings in the city. "About 130 buildings remain. The enemy continues its attempts to unlock Kupiansk," he admitted.
He also claimed that Russian drones destroyed five vehicles with Ukrainian units on the outskirts of Kupiansk in the last hours.
South Africa Reports 17 Citizens Seeking Help After Serving as Mercenaries in Ukraine
The South African government has received "distress calls" from 17 South African citizens "trapped" in the Ukrainian Donbas region after being "deceived" into participating as mercenaries in the war between Russia and Ukraine, revealed the country's Presidency on Thursday.
The 17 men, aged between 20 and 39, "were deceived into joining mercenary forces involved in the war between Ukraine and Russia under the pretext of lucrative job contracts," the South African Presidency stated in a brief release.
Authorities did not provide details on the actions of these citizens in Donbas, a region currently experiencing intense fighting and largely but not entirely controlled by Russian invading forces. Efe reports
Ukraine Neutralizes 108 Russian Drones
Ukrainian air defenses neutralized 108 out of the 135 long-distance drones launched by Russia against its territory overnight. According to the Ukrainian Air Force report, 27 of the long-distance drones launched by Russia were not intercepted and fell in 13 unspecified locations by the Ukrainian Army.
At the same time, the head of the Disinformation Counteraction Center of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andrii Kovalenko, sarcastically announced Russian drone attacks on infrastructure in Russia, stating that two important energy system facilities were hit during the night.
"In the Kostroma region of the Russian Federation, the power plant had a bad night. Something also caught fire at the Lukoil refinery in Volgograd," Kovalenko wrote on his Telegram channel.
Russia Shoots Down 75 Ukrainian Drones
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that last night, anti-aircraft defenses shot down a total of 75 Ukrainian drones over nine regions of the country, including 49 over Volgograd and the Crimea peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, where seven unmanned aircraft were destroyed.
Due to the drone attacks and to ensure flight safety, Russian authorities temporarily suspended airport operations in eleven Russian cities, a restriction that was lifted once the threats to air navigation ceased.
Ukrainian Attack in Volgograd
A man died in a massive Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Volgograd, where according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, anti-aircraft defenses shot down 49 fixed-wing drones.
"As a result of a terrorist drone attack on a 24-story residential building located at 4 Garia Jojolova Street, damage to balconies and broken windows in nearby buildings occurred. A civilian, a 48-year-old man, died," stated the governor of the Volgograd region, Andrei Bocharov.
According to the regional administration's Telegram channel, drone fragments caused a fire in an industrial area of Volgograd, a city located over 100 kilometers from the nearest point of the Ukrainian border.