Ukraine and Russia exchanged aerial attacks overnight, just hours after the Kremlin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy infrastructure targets, but stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 145 drones, two ballistic missiles, and four anti-aircraft missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force said Wednesday morning. The attacks targeted the Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. 72 drones were shot down, the air force said.
The attacks struck civilian infrastructure including a hospital in the eastern Sumy region and an electricity system powering the railways in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, according to officials and Ukraine’s state railway company Ukrzaliznytsya.
Parts of the railway have been left without power, but trains are running as scheduled, it said.
“It is these types of nighttime attacks by Russia that destroy our energy sector, our infrastructure, and the normal life of Ukrainians,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram. “The fact that this night is no exception shows that the pressure on Russia must continue for the sake of peace.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday it had shot down 57 drones launched by Ukraine overnight, with 35 of those intercepted and destroyed over the Kursk border region.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
