KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s military shot down 16 out of 18 attack drones launched by Russia as well as one missile during overnight strikes, Kyiv’s air force said on Thursday.
Air defences were called into action in western Khmelnytskyi region, the deputy governor said. Residents were told to take shelter in the region and its city of Starokostyantyniv, site of an air base that Russian air strikes have repeatedly targeted.
It was not immediately clear where the two drones that slipped through Ukraine’s air defences came down.
Authorities said unspecified civilian infrastructure in the eastern region of Kharkiv that borders Russia had been damaged by S-300 missiles, but that no deaths or injuries had been reported.
In a separate statement, Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russian shelling had targeted a power station in the eastern Donetsk region and damaged equipment.
Ukrainians fear Russia plans to conduct a second winter of air strikes targeting the power grid and energy system, causing sweeping blackouts and other outages.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Gareth Jones)
