Ukraine war briefing: Ukrainian drones make multiple strikes inside Russia

Attack on several regions comes after Russia hammered Ukrainian energy facilities with drones and missiles. What we know on day 1,025

• Ukrainian drones made several strikes inside Russia overnight into Saturday, including an infrastructure facility storing fuel in central Russia’s Oryol region, sparking a fire and smashing windows in homes. The Oryol governor, Andrei Klychkov, said early on Saturday that a “mass attack” on an infrastructure site caused fuel to catch fire. The governor of Krasnodar region, Vladimir Kondratyev, said air defences destroyed Ukrainian drones in several areas of the region south and east of Ukraine. One drone smashed windows in village houses, but there were no injuries. Air defences destroyed seven drones over Bryansk region on Ukraine’s northern border, said the governor, Alexander Bogomaz. And in Russia’s Belgorod region, the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukrainian strikes hit two villages, injuring one resident and triggering a fire in a house.
  
• The Ukrainian attack came one night after Russia hammered Ukrainian energy facilities in a massive aerial attack. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russia had used 93 missiles and more than 200 drones in the attack on Friday. He said Ukrainian forces had managed to shoot down 81 of the missiles, including 11 that were successfully targeted by F-16 planes. Six energy facilities were damaged in the western region of Lviv that borders Poland, officials said. An industry source told Reuters the attack had targeted power substations and that there had been more strikes on gas infrastructure than in past assaults.
  
• Zelenskyy called for a “massive reaction” from the world in response to the strikes. “This is [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s plan for ‘peace’ – to destroy everything. This is how he wants ‘negotiations’ – terrorising millions of people,” Zelenskyy said. “A strong reaction from the world is needed: a massive strike – a massive reaction.” Reacting to the attacks, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, called for “the urgent delivery of 20 Nasams, Hawk, or Iris-T air defence systems”.

Source: The Guardian