WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian air attack kills 15 in Ukraine, gas infrastructure targeted

Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine on Saturday, killing 15 people and damaging dozens of residential buildings as well as energy infrastructure across the country, Ukrainian officials said.

In the central city of Poltava, Ukraine's Emergency Services said a Russian missile had struck a residential building, killing 11 people and wounding 16, including four children.

They said 22 people were rescued from rubble and emergency crews worked well into the night. Rescue teams carried out the dead on stretchers.

Reuters TV footage showed thick columns of smoke rising from mounds of rubble outside the building, part of reduced to a twisted mass of metal and building materials.

Firefighters and dozens of rescuers were searching through rubble and carrying the dead out on stretchers.

One retired military veteran, certain his son, daughter-in law and granddaughter had died on the first floor (U.S. second) of the building, waited outside the building all day, checking with rescue teams as they brought bodies past on stretchers.

In Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, one person was killed and four were wounded in a drone attack, the mayor said.

Three police officers were killed during the attacks as they patrolled streets in a village in the northeastern region of Sumy, regional officials said.

Ukraine and Russia later traded blame for a strike on a dormitory at a boarding school in a Ukrainian-held part of Russia's Kursk region, each side accusing the other of launching the attack. Ukraine's military said four people had been killed.

VARIETY OF WEAPONS IN ATTACKS

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had earlier said Russia used missiles, attack drones and aerial bombs in carrying out overnight attacks on Ukrainian targets.

"Each such terrorist attack proves that we need more support in defending ourselves against Russian terror. Every air defence system, every anti-missile weapon, saves lives," he said on the Telegram app.

The Ukrainian air force said Russian forces launched 123 drones and more than 40 missiles. Its air defence units shot down 56 of the drones and redirected 61, it said. The air force provided no figures on how many missiles were intercepted.

In Poltava, around 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the Russian border, about 18 apartment buildings, a kindergarten, and energy infrastructure were damaged, city authorities said.

Ukrainian officials said that damage was also registered in the city of Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Kharkiv and Sumy regions in the northeast, and Khmelnytskyi in the west.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces used six missiles and 17 Shahed drones to target gas infrastructure and other facilities.

Russia's Defence Ministry said that its forces had launched attacks aimed at Ukraine's gas and other energy infrastructure and had shot down 108 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, Russian news agencies reported.

Since March 2024, Russia has launched multiple missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's power sector and other energy infrastructure, knocking out about half of the country's available generating capacity and forcing rolling blackouts.

As the war approaches its three-year mark this month and Russian forces make small but steady gains in eastern Ukraine, edging closer to the strategic logistic hub of Pokrovsk, both sides are using drones to hit infrastructure and disrupt military supply lines.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian naval drone destroyed near Crimea – MOD

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video showing the destruction of a Ukrainian unmanned boat heading towards Crimea. According to the military, the vessel was intercepted by Moscow’s naval forces in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.

Also on Saturday, the ministry said on Telegram that during the previous night, air defense systems intercepted and destroyed nine Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles: seven over Bryansk Region, and one each over Belgorod and Saratov regions.

Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 49 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over seven regions the previous day, according to the military.

The use of unmanned boats and aircraft has played a significant part in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Both sides have increasingly employed drone technology for reconnaissance and offensive operations.

On Friday, the MOD reported that between January 25 and 31, Russian forces conducted seven group strikes using high-precision weapons and attack drones. The strikes targeted critical energy facilities supporting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, as well as military airfields, assembly and storage sites for strike drones and unmanned boats, and temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops.

Reuters/RT