Additional Coverage:
- Ukraine shoots down 58 of 67 Russian attack drones (newsbreak.com)
On September 7 (UPI) – Russia initiated an extensive drone attack on Ukraine early Saturday, deploying 67 Shahed drones against various targets. However, Ukrainian officials reported successfully intercepting 58 of these drones, while others were redirected to different regions.
Ukrainian air defense managed to down a drone over the parliament building in Kyiv during the widespread drone assault, which began late Friday night and continued into early Saturday morning. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the drones were launched from Kursk, Yeisk, and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine tracked all 67 drones, including six that reportedly flew towards Russia, Belarus, and the Russia-occupied Luhansk Oblast. Three drones went off radar while still over Ukraine. Debris from one intercepted drone landed near the parliament building, and several drones targeted Sumy in the northeast, Kherson in the south, Poltava in central Ukraine, and Kyiv.
Kyiv military region leader Serhii Popko labeled the incident a “massive drone attack” and confirmed that a drone was downed over the parliament. The Russian drones approached Kyiv around 3 a.m. local time but failed to hit their intended targets. Air raid sirens blared for over eight hours, yet no casualties were reported from the drone assault.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has recently sought additional support for Ukraine’s air defense systems to counter Russian missiles, attack drones, and bombs targeting Ukrainian cities and villages. Over the past days, Russia has also conducted missile attacks, with Kharkiv in western Ukraine hit on Sunday and Monday, and a military school in Poltava struck on Tuesday, resulting in over 55 fatalities. A subsequent missile attack on Lviv in western Ukraine killed seven people on Wednesday after hitting civilian infrastructure.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with President Zelensky and members of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group on Saturday in Ramstein, Germany.
This group, consisting of 57 countries, includes all 32 NATO member nations. Austin emphasized the challenges posed by Russia’s vast size and numerous targets, noting that Ukraine possesses capabilities, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, to address these threats.
His comments were in response to Ukrainian requests for more offensive weaponry.
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- Ukraine shoots down 58 of 67 Russian attack drones (newsbreak.com)