Ukraine shot down most of the barrage of long-range drones Russia blasted at Kyiv in the early morning hours Saturday and targeted a Russian ammunition warehouse in return, setting the facility ablaze.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 58 of 67 drones aimed at Kyiv, a rare attack on the heavily defended capital city. Russian missiles and drones rarely reach the central government district — one of the most guarded sites in the country — thanks to a comprehensive network of Soviet-era and Western-donated air defense systems.
Kyiv’s air force said the drones were launched from border regions in Russia as well as from Russian-occupied Crimea. The attack used Iranian Shahed drones, also known as kamikaze drones, which are a cheaper and more expendable alternative to missiles.
The attack came amid intelligence that Iran has also sent short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow — a move that Western officials have been warning about for almost a year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
It is not clear when the missiles were delivered, but Russia has been ramping up attacks on Ukraine in recent days, killing dozens of civilians, and is expected to launch renew its large-scale attacks on its energy infrastructure this winter.
Russian officials claimed that a drone attack Saturday caused a fire and explosions at a facility in Voronezh Oblast, which borders Ukraine’s southeastern region, the Kyiv Independent reported. The drones were intercepted, but fragments caused a fire that led to detonations, regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev said.
Residents of several settlements are being temporarily evacuated, he added.
Voronezh Oblast is just east of Kursk, which Ukraine invaded in early August, the first ground attack on Russia since World War II. Ukrainian forces have launched strikes in recent months targeting Russia’s military infrastructure and oil industry.
Ukraine is now using fire-spewing “dragon drones” that drop burning, molten metal, posts on the messaging app Telegram said.
These drops drop scalding thermite — a mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide that burns at 4,000 degrees — onto treetops shielding troops, according to reports. The incendiary substance was used in both world wars, but using drones to drop it is a modern approach.
“Strike drones are our wings of vengeance, bringing fire straight from the sky!” a social media post from Ukraine’s 60th Mechanized Brigade said, CNN reported.
Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst and former British Army officer, told the outlet that using drones to deploy thermite is all about the fear element.
“It is very nasty stuff,” he said. “Using a drone to deliver it is quite innovative, but used in that way its effect will have been psychological more than physical.”
The molten metal can cause severe fourth- or fifth-degree burns.
Meanwhile, the UK will send hundreds more short-range missiles to Ukraine, officials announced ahead of a summit Friday where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for continued military support.
Richard Moore, chief of the UK’s foreign intelligence service MI6, made a rare public appearance on Saturday with CIA Director William Burns where they vowed to stand together in resisting “Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine.”
“We will continue to aid our brave, resolute Ukrainian intelligence partners. We are proud to do so, and stand in awe of Ukraine’s resilience, innovation and élan,” Moore and Burns wrote in an editorial for the Financial Times.
They praised the embattled nation’s “cutting-edge” and innovate approach to the conflict, which they said has altered the course of the war.
“Staying the course is more vital than ever,” the spy chiefs wrote.
With Post wires
