Russian Attack with Drones and Missiles on Two Major Cities in Eastern Ukraine

SadaNews - Ukraine announced that energy facilities in several regions were subjected to a wide-ranging Russian missile and drone attack, while Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his forces are encircling Ukrainian troops in two major cities in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy reported that power outages occurred in multiple regions due to a wide-ranging Russian attack on its facilities with missiles and drones early this Thursday.

The Ukrainian Air Force stated that it detected large groups of drones being launched, followed by hypersonic missiles, targeting various regions including the capital Kyiv and the Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions.

Authorities announced that 11 people were injured in the Zaporizhzhia region due to a Russian drone attack.

In contrast, the Russian Defense Ministry declared that its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 170 Ukrainian drones over various regions last night.

The ministry stated in a statement today, Thursday, "During the night, air defenses destroyed 48 drones over Bryansk region, 21 over Voronezh region, 16 over Nizhny Novgorod region, 15 over Kaluga region, 14 over Rostov region, and 10 over Kursk region.".

On another note, Putin confirmed that Ukrainian forces are encircled in the city of Bakhmut, which is a major bastion for them in the Donetsk region in the east, and in the city of Kupiansk, an important railway junction in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

During a meeting with injured soldiers at a military hospital in Moscow yesterday, Wednesday, Putin stated that the Russian army is prepared to open safe corridors for Ukrainian and Western journalists "so they can see what is happening with their own eyes.".

However, Ukrainian forces described the claims of encircling Kupiansk as "fabrications and illusions," while the spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the east, Hryhoriy Shapoval, told the Associated Press that the situation in Bakhmut is "difficult but under control.".