Ukraine said on Thursday its air force struck two Russian military targets in occupied Crimea, including a command post near Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city.
“Thanks again to the air force pilots and everyone who planned the operation for perfect combat work,” Ukraine’s Air Force Commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, said on Telegram.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, wrote on Telegram that the attack was “the most massive in recent times.”
Just after midnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that its air defence units had downed 36 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukraine has recently enhanced its attacks on Crimea in hopes of forcing Russia’s fleet to retreat from the Black Sea.
Drones will be on the docket next week when NATO and Ukrainian officials are set to meet to discuss Russia’s air campaign against Ukraine, which has included large waves of attacks since the start of the year.
NATO spokesperson Dylan White said Thursday that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg would convene the NATO-Ukraine Council on January 10 “following recent Russian missile and drone attacks.”
Ukrainian officials have pushed for allies to bolster the country’s air defences, while Russia has used daily missile and drone attacks to target Ukrainian cities.
Two of the most active nights of Russian attacks have taken place during the past week, including dozens of missiles and drones targeting the capital, Kyiv.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wednesday that a key topic for the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting would be strengthening Ukrainian air defences, and he called the talks an “important sign of Euro-Atlantic unity in the face of Russian terror escalation.”
On Tuesday, Kuleba called on allies to quickly send air defence systems and ammunition to Ukraine and to provide Ukrainian forces with combat drones and missiles with ranges longer than 300 kilometres.
Kuleba also called for approvals to use seized Russian assets to help Ukraine and to isolate Russian diplomats.
Ukraine said Thursday that Russia continued its aerial attacks overnight with two drones that Ukrainian air defenses downed in the Khmelnytskyi area.
The Russian attack also included three guided missiles targeting Kharkiv and Donetsk, the Ukrainian air force said.
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
