Ukraine fends off Russian attack on Kyiv, boasts using fiery ‘dragon drones’ as allies restock both combatants
Ukraine shot ꦇdow🎉n most of the barrage of long-range drones Russia blasted at Kyiv in the early morning hours Saturday and targeted a Russian ammunition warehouse in return, setting the facility ablaze.
Ukraine’s air force said it aimed at Kyiv, a rare attack on the heavily defended capital city. Russian missiles and drones rarely reach the central government district — one of the most guarded sites in the country — thanks to a comprehensive network of Soviet-era and Western-donated air defense systems.
Kyiv’s air force said the drones were launched from border regions in Russia as well as from Russian-occupied Crimea. The attack used Iranian Shahed drones, also known as kamikaze drones, which are a cheaper and more expendable alternative to missiles.
The attack came amid intelligence that Iran has also sent short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow — a move that Western officials have been warning about for almost a year,
It is not clear when the missiles were delivered, but Russia has been on Ukraine in recent days, killing dozens of civilians, and is expe⛎cted to launch renew its large-scale attacks on its energy infrastructure this winꦉter.
Russian officials claimed that a drone attack Saturday caused a fire and explosions at a facility in Voronezh Oblast, which borders Ukraine’s southeastern region, The drones were intercepted, but fragments caused a fire that led to detonations, regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev said.
Residents of several se🍌♛ttlements are being temporarily evacuated, he added.
Voronezh Oblast is just east of Kursk, which Ukraine invaded in early August, the first ground attack on Russia since World War II. Ukrainian forces have launched strikes in recent months targeting Russia’s military infrastructure and oil industry.
Ukraine is now using fire-spewing “dragon drones” t🌊hat drop burning, molten metal, posts on the messaging app Telegram said.
These drops drop scalding thermite — a mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide that burns at 4,000 degrees — onto treetops shielding troops, The incendiary substance was used in both world wars, but using drones to drop it is a modern approach.
“Strike drones are our wi𒈔ngs of vengeance, bringing fire straight from the sky!” a social media post from Ukrai🃏ne’s 60th Mechanized Brigade said,
Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst and former British Army officer, told the out🙈let that using drones to deplo𝓰y thermite is all about the fear element.
“It is very nasty stuff,” he said. “Using a drone to deliver it is quite innovative, but used in that way its effect will have been psychological more than physical.”
The molten metal can cause severe fourth- or fiftꦜh-degree burnsಞ.
Mไeanwhile, the UK will send hundreds more short-range missiles to Ukraine, officials announced ahead of a summit Friday wher▨e Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for continued military support.
Richard Moore, chief of the UK’s foreign intelligence service MI6, made a rare public appearance on Saturday with CIA Director William Burns where they vowed to stand together in resisting “Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine.”
“We will continue to aid our brave, resolute Ukrainian intelligence partners. We are proud to do so, and stand in awe of Ukraine’s resilience, innovation and élan,” Moore and Burns wrote in
They praised the embattled nation’s “cutting-edge” and innovate approach to the conflict, which they said has altered the course of the war.
“Staying the course is more vital than ever,” the spy chiefs wrote.
With Post wires
