KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine hit more oil facilities deep inside Russia in nighttime attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as Kyiv kept up its campaign to undermine Moscow's wartime economy and embarrass the Kremlin.
The repeated strikes have caused fuel shortages and rattled Russians while heartening Ukrainians who are enduring regular Russian barrages that Kyiv's weakened air defenses are struggling to counter.
Ukrainian forces hit a refinery in Bashkortostan, more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) behind the front line in eastern Ukraine, as well as a refinery in the Yaroslavl region, almost 700 kilometers (400 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Zelenskyy said on social media.
Also, Ukrainian forces hit two Russian military patrol boats in the Black Sea, according to Zelenskyy, as well as vessels belonging to Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, which Russia uses to evade Western restrictions on its oil exports. He did not provide details about the vessels or the extent of the damage.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses overnight shot down 605 Ukrainian drones over a number of Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.
Meanwhile, Russian drone and glide bomb attacks across Ukraine during the night killed at least three civilians and wounded 22 others, authorities said Thursday, as countries helping Kyiv resist Russia’s invasion scrambled to find more vital air defenses for its fight.
Moscow’s forces have in recent weeks pummeled Ukraine with ballistic missiles that Kyiv officials say only the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system can stop. But the Iran war has drained stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles, leaving Ukraine at the mercy of Russian bombardments that seek to exploit its weakened aerial defenses.
“We are working as hard as possible with all partners who can assist with the supply of interceptor missiles to protect against such insane Russian strikes targeting life, people, and civilian facilities,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media late Wednesday after a Russian barrage killed 17 people in the Kyiv region.
He said he had spoken to NATO chief Mark Rutte and Finnish President Alexander Stubb about urgently procuring interceptors from stockpiles.
Zelenskyy said he and Rutte “coordinated our efforts regarding countries that have the necessary missiles and the capacity to help.”
“It is important to cut through all red tape and make the necessary political decisions,” Zelenskyy said.
“I am discussing with allies how we can continue to get Ukraine the air defenses they urgently need,” Rutte said on X.
Russia appears determined to exhaust Ukraine through sheer weight of numbers in terms of soldiers, armor and weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that time is on his side, that Western support will fade and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually collapse under pressure, Western analysts and officials say.
Russia fired four missiles and 101 long-range strike drones at Ukraine from Wednesday into Thursday, Ukraine’s air force said, with air defenses shooting down or jamming 66 drones.
Three people were killed in Balakliia in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to Vitalii Karabanov, head of the city’s military administration.
A first strike hit a home, killing a woman and starting a fire, he said, while a second strike near another home killed a man and a woman.
In the neighboring Sumy region, Russian glide bombs wounded 12 people, the National Police said. Apartment buildings and infrastructure were damaged near the impact sites, with hundreds of windows shattered, regional military administration chief Oleh Hryhorov said.
In the southern Kherson region, a Russian drone struck a bus carrying farmworkers to a field, wounding six people, regional authorities said.
A Russian drone also struck a residential area in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, wounding four people, regional administration head Ivan Fedorov said.
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