Ukraine’s military said Thursday it intercepted 16 Russian aerial drones and two guided missiles that targeted Ukraine in overnight attacks.
The Ukrainian air force said the intercepts took place over the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, said on Telegram the Russian attacks injured two people and damaged 14 residential buildings.
Threats of aerial attacks prompted alarms in Kyiv, but Ukrainian air defenses shot down Russian drones before they reached the area, according to Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration.
Russia’s defense ministry said Thursday it destroyed 33 Ukrainian aerial drones and 10 naval drones.
The naval drones were heading toward the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, while the aerial drones were shot down over Crimea and Bryansk, the ministry said.
Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz reported on Telegram there were no casualties or damage in his area.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday that 500,000 Russian troops are surrounding Ukraine and Russia is looking to add 200,000 to 300,000 more in the coming months.
He told the annual meeting in Aspen, Colorado, that 550,000 Russians have been killed or wounded so far in the 2-year-old war and that Russia is relying heavily on mercenaries, including those from Africa.
On Ukraine’s push to loosen restrictions by the U.S. and some others on the use of long-range weapons against targets deep inside Russia, Umerov said, “We want to change it from a limit on length to a focus on functional[ity].”
“The work is still in progress,” he added. “We want to say it loudly. We are focusing on the military targets.”
Russia and Ukraine swapped 95 prisoners each on Wednesday, exchanging 190 prisoners in total.
It was the third prisoner swap between the two countries in seven weeks – the 54th since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The United Arab Emirates helps facilitate the swaps, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the UAE for assisting in Wednesday’s exchange.
VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this story. Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
