The Russian military carried out fresh attacks using combat drones across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian forces late Tuesday. The Ukrainian Air Force warned of a large number of “enemy” drones over central and northeastern regions of the country. In the capital, Kyiv, the sound of anti-aircraft fire was heard shortly before midnight.
Reports indicated that some drones had already entered western Ukraine, heading toward the city of Lutsk. Air raid sirens were activated across much of the country.
Ukrainian military observers also anticipated the possible use of air- and sea-launched cruise missiles. Unconfirmed reports suggested that strategic bombers and missile-equipped ships from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were being prepared for deployment.
Earlier, officials reported that a Russian airstrike killed 24 elderly people at a pension distribution site in a village in eastern Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Kyiv’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow to end the war.
Russian forces launched a fierce assault on much of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, at a time when diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the three-and-a-half-year-long war have largely stalled.
Zelensky revealed that a guided bomb targeted the village of Yarova, located about 24 kilometers from Sloviansk and just a few kilometers from the front line. He wrote on the platform, X: “A direct targeting of people, ordinary civilians, during pension distribution.”
The State Emergency Service reported that 24 people were killed and 19 others injured. Vadym Filashkin, governor of the Donetsk region, stated that all the victims were elderly.
Zelensky said, “The world must not remain silent… must not stand idly by. The United States, Europe, and the G20 must respond.”
Russia has yet to comment on the attack and denies targeting civilians, although tens of thousands have died since it launched its full-scale war in February 2022.
A Russian airstrike last week near the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv killed two members of a Danish-sponsored humanitarian mission focused on mine clearance.