Ukraine reports Russian drone attack, attempts to take Dnipro islands

Multiple regions in Ukraine were targeted by Russian combat drones overnight, Ukrainian authorities reported early on Monday.

“A series of explosions could be heard over Transcarpathia,” Svitlana Onyshchuk, governor of the Ivano-Frankivsk region in south-western Ukraine announced on Telegram.

The region lies around 850 kilometres from the closest Russian positions on the Crimean Peninsula.

Infrastructure had been targeted, Onyshchuk said, without providing details. Fires were reported, but there were no injuries, she added.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak reported damage to three high-rise buildings in the industrial city of Dnipro, located in the south-east of the country.

The Ukrainian air force reported damage in the Kiev region and in Sumy in the north-east.

The air force reported shooting down 54 of the more than 100 drones launched by Russia. A further 39 drones had not carried explosives and had been launched as decoys, it said. These had been rendered harmless by electronic means, the air force said.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry reported intercepting 32 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, with 15 of them recorded over the southern Voronezh region bordering eastern Ukraine.

Both sides have been using drones and missiles to attack key infrastructure, including power plants, since the Russian full-scale invasion began nearly three years ago.

The claims from both sides could not be immediately verified.

Russia attempts to take islands in Dnipro mouth

Russian forces had launched several attempts to seize small islands in the mouth of the Dnipro River as it flows into the Black Sea near Kherson in southern Ukraine, the Ukrinform news agency reported.

Ukrainian forces had repelled a total of 19 attacks last week, Lieutenant Pavlo Drohal, spokesman for the Ukrainian units stationed there, told the agency.

“Russian forces continue their attempts to establish a foothold in the island zone at the mouth of the Dnipro River,” Drohal said. He reported that 122 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the assaults. The information could not be independently verified.

As all possible landing points on the islands were known to the Ukrainian army, they could be targeted with accurate artillery fire at any time, Drohal said.

A bridgehead in the region would allow Russian forces to increase pressure on the Ukrainians.