Kyiv hit in biggest overnight strike in months; targets Russia with drones

Russia targeted Kyiv with the biggest overnight missile attack since the spring, and accused Ukraine of sending a swarm of drones against Russian targets that damaged military transport planes at a northwestern airport.

At least two people were killed and three wounded by falling debris in the Ukrainian capital, local authorities said Wednesday. Air defenses shot down more than 20 Russian missiles and drones overnight, they said. Russia also launched missiles at the southern Odesa region, according to Governor Oleh Kiper.

In Russia’s Pskov region, four Ilyushin 76 military transport aircraft were damaged by a drone strike, state-run Tass news agency reported, citing an unidentified emergency services official. Regional Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on social media that all flights from the airport are halted Wednesday. Pskov, home to an elite paratrooper base, borders NATO members Estonia and Latvia, and lies about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Ukraine.

The attacks came as Ukraine reported its troops pierced the first line of Russian fortifications in the nation’s southeast and are fighting to widen the breach. The Ukrainian counteroffensive, started in June, has been bogged down by Russian forces dug in along a vast front line stretching from the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east through the south to the mouth of the Dnipro river. The slow-moving push has worried Ukraine’s allies, who say a long fight risks giving Russian President Vladimir Putin the upper hand in a war of attrition.

Moscow shut four international airports briefly as a combat drone was downed near the capital, Tass reported, citing emergency services. In central Russia, drones also were shot down in the Ryazan, Kaluga, Oryol and Bryansk regions. The military destroyed four Ukrainian speedboats in the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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