Russia has launched a huge overnight drone attack on Ukraine that has seen several buildings in several regions explode into flames.
The latest mass drone barrage from Vladimir Putin’s forces struck infrastructure facilities in Lviv and Odesa oblasts, as well as civilian sites in the city of Kharkiv and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, according to regional authorities.
The regions came under attack from 40 Russian kamikaze drones and a Kh-59 cruise missile, which has a turbojet engine and a range of 200km.
Ukraine’s military was reportedly able to shoot down 24 of the Shahed-type drones and the rocket, but the damage caused by those striking buildings was still extremely significant.
Four of the 40 drones launched by Russia were targeted at the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
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The huge impact sparked large-scale fires and damage to a residential building, an educational institute, a service station, an administrative building, outbuildings, cars, and garages.
Lviv Oblast Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram that 11 drones were downed in the region, but another hit a critical infrastructure facility in the region.
In Odesa Oblast, air defenses destroyed two more Iranian-designed drones, but one successfully struck a local infrastructure facility.
Meanwhile in the western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, debris from a Russian drone that had been taken out smashed into a dormitory in the Kalush district and sparked a fire.
Governor Svitlana Onyshchuk said that the Russian drone attack also hit a military site in the region.
Speaking after the latest barrage from Putin’s forces, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky vowed: “We realize that as winter approaches, Russian terrorists will try to do more damage. We will respond to the enemy.”
The overnight attack comes with a video showing the incredible moment a Ukrainian drone strike wipes out a Russian soldier on a motorbike.
The footage, filmed an unspecified location in Ukraine, follows the armed drone as it pursues its enemy down a dirt path.
The drone starts to gain on the motorbike as it races down the road before the video suddenly blacks out as the unmanned vehicle strikes the rear of the bike.
Regional governors also said the Kh-59 cruise missile was intercepted over the Kropyvnytskyi district in Kirovohrad Oblast, while three more drones were successfully taken out in Mykolaiv Oblast.
