Russia says it repelled nationwide Ukraine drone attack

Russia said it had repelled a “massive” Ukrainian drone blitz across 14 regions and capital Moscow that targeted energy and fuel plants. Follow updates.

Russian military blogger Rybar, who is followed by more than 1.3 million people, wrote, “the night attack by the Ukrainian armed forces was the most massive since the start of the special military operation” in 2022.

Ukraine has repeatedly attacked Russia with drones, targeting energy infrastructure in retaliation for Moscow’s missile attacks that have hugely damaged its own energy network.

“It is entirely justified for Ukrainians to respond to Russian terror by any means necessary to stop it,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Facebook.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that 10 drones had targeted various areas of the capital.

Last night and early this morning, 158 Ukrainian drones attacked 15 regions of Russia, including Moscow. Targets hit include a thermal power plant (GRES) in Tver Oblast, another GRES in Moscow Oblast, and an oil refinery in Moscow, where fires broke out and were classified at the… pic.twitter.com/ZyI8SXUSHP

— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) September 1, 2024

A coal-fired power plant near the city was reportedly targeted, and an attack caused a fire at an oil refinery within the city boundaries.

The barrage comes just days after Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was targeted by over 200 Russian drones and missiles in one of the biggest such attacks.

Russian authorities reported a fire at the Moscow oil refinery, owned by Gazprom, in southeast Kapotnya after it was targeted by drones.

An emergency services source told TASS state news agency that fuel was burning at the plant and the fire was initially classed as the highest level of complexity.

Multiple Ukrainian drone strikes took place again this night on Russian energy infrastructure. The large Konakovo power plant (2,520 MW) was affected.

I have analyzed the videos and we see two out of eight transformers on fire at the plant. A gas storage facility that supplied… pic.twitter.com/lQ82lDdShw

— Damien ERNST (@DamienERNST1) September 1, 2024

In the Tver region northwest of Moscow, five drones targeted Konakovo power plant and caused a fire that was swiftly extinguished, according to governor Igor Rudenya.

Local media posted witness videos of a fire burning next to the plant’s main building in the early morning after several drones circled the plant.

A local official in the Moscow region, Mikhail Shuvalov, said three drones had also tried to hit the Kashira coal-fired power station.

Russia’s defence ministry said most of the 122 drones were downed over the regions of Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh and Belgorod which border Ukraine.

In the Belgorod region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said: “The glass of three residential buildings in Belgorod is damaged. In one private residence, a utility building was completely destroyed.”

At least three people were killed and nine injured by shelling of the Donetsk region near the town of Kurakhove, the regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.

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UKRAINE DOWNS 22 RUSSIAN MISSILES

Ukraine said Monday it had downed 22 Russian missiles headed towards Kyiv and two other regions overnight during an attack in which two people were wounded.

In the northeastern city of Sumy, a social welfare centre for children and an orphanage suffered damage after a missile strike on Sunday evening, injuring 13 people including four children, the mayor Oleksandr Lysenko said on Telegram.

“On September 2 overnight, the Russian occupiers carried out a missile attack on Kyiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and anti-aircraft guided missiles, and attacked with Shahed-type UAVs from the south,” the Ukranian air force said.

It said Ukrainian defence forces had shot down nine ballistic missiles, 13 cruise missiles and 20 attack drones.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said two adults were injured and four cars caught fire from falling debris.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said an overnight aerial attack by Ukrainian forces wounded one person and damaged a shop and an infrastructure facility in the eponymous capital Belgorod.

RUSSIAN GLIDE BOMB KILLS 14YO GIRL

Aerial strikes on Russian and Ukrainian border cities killed at least a dozen people, as both sides also claimed to have advanced on the battlefield — Moscow in eastern Ukraine and Kyiv in its shock offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region.

A Russian aerial strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv killed seven people, including a 14-year-old girl, Ukraine’s interior minister said.

Emergency workers were still pulling bodies from the rubble. Images on social media showed the top floors of a multistorey residential building ripped open and a fire raging after the strike.

A burnt-out car is seen in the courtyard of a damaged residential building following a missile attack in Kharkiv on August 30. Picture: AFP

At least 77 were wounded, including 18 children, the emergency services said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Kyiv’s Western backers to up their support after the attack, which officials said was with a glide bomb.

Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire in a residential building following a missile attack in Kharkiv on August 30. Picture: AFP

“We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media.

“We need long-range capabilities,” he added, referring to Kyiv’s appeals to allies to lift restrictions on the use of Western-supplied missiles inside Russian territory and deliver more longer-range weapons.

“We need the implementation of air defence agreements for Ukraine. This is about saving lives,” he added.

Ukrainian rescuers help an injured woman to leave the site of a missile attack in Kharkiv on August 30. Picture: AFP

MAP REVEALS NEW BATTLEFRONT

Russia is advancing towards a key logistics hub.

It has so far deployed 30,000 troops towards Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, and has regularly announced that it has taken control of nearby villages.

Vladimir Putin has also called in reinforcements from ally Belarus with use of its tanks that have a “B” marking on them on the Ukrainian border.

“Pokrovsk and other areas in the Donetsk region are extremely difficult: the key Russian efforts and the largest forces are concentrated there,” Mr Zelenskyy said in his evening address, citing a report by army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Ukraine’s General Staff said in an update the situation “is the hottest in the Pokrovsk sector”.

It said there was “fierce fighting” in a number of villages close to the city.

“So far, the enemy has made 38 attempts to storm Ukrainian positions. Combat is still ongoing in 14 locations,” the General Staff said.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi said by video link that Russia was trying to disrupt Ukraine’s supply lines to the front near Pokrovsk, a coal mining city that has strategic military value as a transport hub.

He said that one of the objectives of the Kursk operation was to divert Russian forces from other areas, primarily the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove sectors.

“The Kursk operation diverted a significant number of its forces,” he said.

NATO CONDEMNS RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES

NATO countries have condemned “indiscriminate” heavy Russian strikes across war-battered Ukraine, after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Brussels.

NATO members reaffirmed their commitment to “stepping up their military aid to Ukraine”, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said, following the meeting of ambassadors with Ukrainian officials at Kyiv’s request.

Destroyed buildings in the Ukrainian town of Myrnohrad amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Picture: AFP

“We must continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment and munitions it needs to defend itself against Russia’s invasion. This is vital for Ukraine’s ability to stay in the fight,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Several NATO countries also called for lifting restrictions on Kyiv’s use of weapons supplied by Western allies, especially long-range missiles, to help Ukraine better defend itself against deadly strikes, a diplomatic source said.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov “briefed allies” about the situation on the ground, NATO said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation was “extremely difficult”. Picture: AFP

The Russian army has captured several towns and villages in recent days, even as Moscow scrambles to fight off a Ukrainian counter-attack into its western Kursk region.

President Zelenskyy has called for European air forces to help Kyiv down drones and missiles in the future.

People ride in a car loaded with belongings as they leave the town of Myrnohrad after more Russian attacks. Picture: AFP

“In our various regions of Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours worked together with our F-16s and together with our air defence,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

The air attacks on Ukraine are some of the largest in recent weeks, with 15 Ukrainian regions targeted by a total of 236 missiles and drones, Kyiv said, of which it claimed it shot down 201.

A destroyed school building in the town of Myrnohrad. Picture: AFP

RUSSIA BANS 92 JOURNALISTS

Russia has banned another 92 US citizens from entering its territory, listing names of reporters from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.

The foreign ministry said in a statement it was responding to sanctions against Russian figures in the United States. It was not possible to immediately verify whether all those listed held US nationality.

UKRAINE LAUNCHES SECOND INVASION INTO RUSSIA

Ukraine is in the midst of a second daring cross-border attack into Russia.

At least 500 troops and armoured vehicles fought towards Belgorod in attacks on the Shebekino and Nekhoteyevka border crossing checkpoints, according to Russian military bloggers and the regional governor.

The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine was attempting to repeat its success in the key region southeast of Kursk.

“According to the Russian defence ministry, the situation on the border remains difficult but under control,” he said.

About 200 Ukrainian troops in infantry fighting vehicles attacked Nekhoteyevka and 300 attacked at Shebekino, according to the “Mash” Telegram channel, which The Kyiv Independent reported has links to Russian law enforcement.

Russian military blogger “Romanov” said that Ukraine was beaten back, while “Operation Z” added, “Russian artillery is working”.