By Oleksandr Kozhukhar for Reuters
Residents clean debris in a courtyard of a house destroyed as a result of a drone attack in Tairove, Odesa region of Ukraine, on 17 December 2023. Photo: AFP / Anatolii Stepanov
Ukraine and Russia launched a swarm of drones at each other's territories on Sunday as both sides step up attacks, with the Russian assault reportedly killing one person in Odesa and the Ukrainian strike targeting a Russian military airfield.
Ukraine's air force said on Sunday morning local time that it had destroyed 20 drones and a cruise missile that Russia launched overnight. Nine of the drones were downed over the southern Odesa region, with falling debris starting a fire in a residential house and killing one person.
The Russian defence ministry said in a social media statement that its air defence systems destroyed or intercepted a total of 35 Ukraine-launched drones over Lipetsk, Volgograd and Rostov regions. It did not say what was targeted or whether there was any damage.
Ukrainska Pravda media outlet reported late on Sunday, citing unnamed sources, that the Kyiv attack targeted the Russian Morozovsk airfield in the Rostov region in a reportedly joint operation of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Armed Forces.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region that borders Ukraine in Russia's southwest corner, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that air defence forces repelled "a massive attack" by drones in the area of Morozovsk and Kamensk and that most of the air weapons were destroyed.
Several Russian military bloggers said, however, that one bomber at the air base suffered minor damage.
The Morozovsk air base is home to Russia's 559th Bomber Aviation Regiment, according to Russian state media, and is armed with Russia's most modern medium-range Su-34 bombers.
While Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on Ukraine in February 2022, both sides have carried out numerous strikes on each other's infrastructure which is critical to their militaries.
Sunday's attacks follow Ukraine's reports that its air defence systems had shot down 30 Russia-launched drones over 11 regions across the country on Saturday, and Russia said on Friday it had downed 26 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
- Reuters