Russia launched five cruise missiles towards Ukraine in the last hours, which were intercepted before reaching their objectives. Furthermore, a total of 53 Iranian Shahed drones They were also fired on Ukrainian territory, of which the air defenses managed to shoot down 48, as reported this Friday by the Ukrainian Army.
The missiles were launched from Tu-95MC bombers that flew over Russian airspace, and aimed “critical infrastructure”Ukrainians, according to the Air Force report, which did not give more details about the targets to be attacked.
The drones were fired from the occupied peninsula of Crimea and from Russian territories near the border with Ukraine.
The interceptions of drones and missiles occurred over the territory of the Ukrainian oblasts of Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovograd (center), Zaporizhzhia (southeast), Mikolayiv, Kharkov and Odessa (south), Kyiv (north) and Khmelnytskyy (west).
Russia attacks Ukrainian territory practically every night with Shahed dronesa relatively cheap technology acquired from the Iranian regime that is capable of hitting targets a thousand kilometers away.
Although the Ukrainian defenses destroy most of these drones, the Shahed serve to hinder the missile interception when used in combined attacks, and force Ukraine to expend ammunition to prevent kamikaze drones from reaching their targets.
Fragments from intercepted drones often fall on residential areas or infrastructure, causing material damage and the death of civilians.
Ukraine ordered this Thursday the evacuation of minors and their parents or legal guardians from several towns and villages in the eastern region of Donetsk in the face of the intensification of Russian offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky stated this week that Russia is focusing its offensive on Donetsk, in the east of the country.
Russia proclaimed the annexation of Donetsk in 2022, although it does not fully control this region.
“This is an important decision aimed primarily at saving the lives of our children.”said Donetsk Governor Vadim Filashkin on social media.
“The security situation in the region is constantly deteriorating and the intensity of shelling is increasing“added the authority.
There are several towns near the front line on the list, including Limana position that Russian troops took at the beginning of the conflict, which began in February 2022, but that Ukrainian troops managed to recover.
In the first months of the conflict, Zelensky urged all residents of the Donetsk region to leave the region, but not the entire population followed the orders.
Russia launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region in the northeast in May, forcing Ukraine to divert part of its troops to protect this flank very close to the border.
Filashkin announced earlier that one person was killed and three wounded in a Russian bombing in the region.
Meanwhile, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced this Thursday that Paris will deliver fighters Mirage 2000 to kyiv and that it will train Ukrainian pilots in France so that they can use these aircraft as part of allied efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s military capabilities against Russia.
“Tomorrow we will start a new cooperation and announce the sale of the Mirage 2000-5, which are French combat aircraft that will allow Ukraine to protect its soil and airspace.”he noted during an interview with the channels France 2 and TF1.
The objective, Macron explained, is that the pilots can train “starting in the summer” for about five or six months. “Our desire is also to form a brigade. We propose to train 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers, equip and train them,” he added.
The French president also stressed that it would not be “an escalation factor” to train Ukrainian soldiers directly in Ukraine, an option that he has not ruled out, although he explained that it is a decision that must be made “collectively.”
“We have never been in an escalation situation. “It was not us who attacked Ukraine,” she stressed, recalling that kyiv “faces an imperialist power, which is not Nazi Germany, but which tramples on International Law.”
(With information from EFE, AFP and Europa Press)
