Ukraine attacks several Russian regions with drones

Ukraine responded to the recent heavy Russian missile fire with drone attacks on Russia on Tuesday.

A depot of tanks belonging to the oil company Lukoil in the Volgograd region was set on fire as a result. Regional Governor Andrey Bocharov blamed this on debris from drones that had been shot down, which had fallen on the depot in the city of Kalach on the Don.

The fire is being extinguished, he said. A transformer station had also been hit, he said.

The Russian Ministry of Defence announced on Tuesday that 38 Ukrainian combat drones had been intercepted during the night over the Belgorod, Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Astrakhan regions.

The information could not initially be independently verified - and the Volgograd region did not appear on the ministry's list. However, Russian authorities confirmed that aircraft were temporarily unable to take off or land at the airports in Volgograd and Astrakhan.

According to the Moscow military, further drones were shot down over the Belgorod and Astrakhan regions in the course of the morning.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for over two years. As it lacks heavy long-range weapons, it is trying to make up for this shortcoming with targeted drone attacks. The attacks on Russian refineries and petrol depots are intended to paralyse the supply of fuel for the army.

However, the damage caused in Russia is nowhere close to the scale of the devastating consequences of Russian bombardments on Ukraine.

According to the latest count by the Ukrainian capital's military administration, 31 people were killed and 117 injured in the Russian missile and cruise missile attack on Kiev on Monday. The hit on one of Ukraine's largest paediatric hospitals caused shock.