Russia Hits Ukrainian Airbases, Carries Out Daylight Strikes

Date: 29 May 2023 - 22:58

News ID: ۱۱۵۵۹۳

KYIV (Dispatches) -- Russia said on Monday its military had hit Ukrainian airbases in overnight strikes and Ukrainian forces had shelled industrial facilities inside Russia.
Explosions rattled Kyiv during daylight as Russian ballistic missiles took aim at the Ukrainian capital, hours after a more common nighttime barrage of the city by drones and cruise missiles.
In a rare acknowledgement of damage to a military “target”, Ukraine said that work was under way to restore a runway and that five aircraft were taken out of service in the western region of Khmelnitskiy, although it did not name the site or sites.
A large military airfield was located in the region before the war.
“At the moment, work is continuing to contain fires in storage facilities for fuel and lubricants and munitions,” the Khmelnitskiy region governor’s office said.
Russian state-owned news agency RIA cited the defense ministry as saying more than one air base was hit, but there was no confirmation from Ukraine of damage to any other air bases.
The Ukrainian capital came under attack for the 16th time this month in the morning after a second successive night of bombardments. But officials said most of the drones and missiles fired overnight had been shot down and no targets were hit in the morning.
Russian forces fired 11 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv at about 11:30 a.m. (0830 GMT; 4:30 a.m. EDT), according to Ukraine’s chief of staff, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. All of them were shot down, he said, and puffs of white smoke could be seen in the blue sky over the city from street level.
The attacks, which sent Kyiv residents running for shelter in metro stations, were part of a new wave of Russian airstrikes this month as Ukraine, armed with new Western weapons, prepares a push to try to take back territory occupied by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s military said an attack on Odesa port had caused a fire and damaged infrastructure but did not specify whether the damage threatened grain exports.
Ukraine said it had shot down 29 of 35 drones and 37 of 40 cruise missiles fired overnight by Russia, and the Kyiv military administration said its air defenses had shot down over 40 of the “targets” fired at it.
“Another difficult night for the capital,” mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
The attack follows one the previous night - the largest drone barrage yet launched on Kyiv - in which one person was killed and several injured. In Sunday’s attack, 36 drones were downed over the city.