Ukraine shot down 16 of 30 Russian drones in second night of attacks

Ukraine’s air defense on Sunday shot down 16 out of about 30 drones launched by Russia overnight — the second day of overnight attacks — as President Vladimir Putin marked a year since four Ukrainian regions were illegally annexed “to be with their fatherland.”

Drones were launched from the southern, southeastern, and northern directions overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s air defense said on Telegram.

Authorities in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy said they were under attack, resulting in fires and at least one person being injured.

“At night, the enemy massively attacked our Cherkasy region with attack drones. Unfortunately, there were hits on industrial infrastructure in (the city of) Uman,” Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram.

“As a result, fires broke out in warehouses. In particular, where grain was stored,” he said, adding that one person was injured.

The Ukrainian presidential office said that civilian infrastructure and warehouses were also damaged in the southern Mykolaiv region and eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russian officials said they were also hit by drones and shelling on Sunday, injuring at least three people and forcing an airport to divert flights, Agence France-Presse reported.

“On Sunday morning, the armed forces of Ukraine shelled the area of the central market in Shebekino,” said Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

“According to preliminary information, there are three victims – a woman suffered shrapnel wounds to the neck… Two other men suffered shrapnel wounds to their legs,” he said.

Ukraine also shot down a slew of drones overnight Saturday, as Russia celebrated the one-year anniversary of annexing four regions in the war-torn country.

Twenty Iranian-made drones were shot down in the central Vinnytsia region and another 10 over the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions in the south, Ukraine’s South Military command said Saturday.

While carrying out the attacks, Putin marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions, noting that “they had made their choice to be with the Fatherland” following elections that were labeled phony by the West.

In a state address, Putin insisted the vote was carried out in “full accordance with international norms,” adding that residents of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia had expressed their desire to be part of Russia in a vote carried out earlier this month.

The address came after Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that it would recruit 130,000 men for compulsory military service, beginning Sunday.

The ministry said that for the first time, it would enlist men in the annexed territories as part of its conscription campaign.

With Post wires