Russian overnight drone attack hit Ukraine ‘critical infrastructure,’ air force says

LONDON — Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 22 of 28 Russian drones in the latest nighttime raid in Moscow, although it acknowledged “several hits on critical infrastructure facilities” in the west of the country.

The air force said it also shot down three Russian Kh-59/69 cruise missiles fired at the central city of Kryvyi Rih.

Only three drones have been found since the last wave, the air force wrote on Telegram, one was lost in flight due to jamming and two left Ukrainian airspace.

The force carried out “several strikes” on targets in the western Ternopil and Rivne regions.

Oleksandr Koval, head of Rivne’s military administration, said on Telegram that the Russian attack targeted “an energy infrastructure facility.”

“All appropriate services are working on the scene,” Koval said, adding that there were no casualties.

In Ternopil, the head of the military administration, Vyacheslav Nehoda, said a drone had hit an industrial facility, causing a fire. “The fire was localized” and extinguished, Nehoda wrote in a Facebook update.

There were no casualties, Nehoda added, but “once again there were problems with the electricity supply to some subscribers”.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that a Ukrainian drone has crashed in the Bryansk region and another in the Belgorod region overnight.

Russia’s protracted strike campaign looks set to continue through the winter in an attempt to bring down Ukraine’s energy grid and increase the war’s strain on the national economy.

President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory in November has revived talk of peace talks after nearly three years of all-out war. Both Moscow and Kyiv are taking advantage ahead of potential negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed the need for talks this week, telling Kyodo News that his nation must find “diplomatic solutions” to free territory occupied by Moscow since 2014, admitting that Kyiv’s “army does not have the strength to do so.”

But Zelenskyy suggested that any talks and any concessions must be accompanied by the guaranteed protection of Western partners. “The invitation to Ukraine to join NATO is necessary for our survival,” the president said after talks with European Union leaders in Kiev on Sunday.

While diplomatic posturing continues, Zelenskyy is pushing allies to provide more weapons, especially air defenses. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Kiev on Monday, promising another $680 million in arms for Ukraine.

The US also announced a new tranche of $750 million in military aid on Monday. The State Department said the “urgently needed” weapons included Stinger air defense missiles, HIMARS ammunition, artillery ammunition and various anti-tank weapons.