Ukraine hits Russia with missile and drone strikes

Thirty-two Ukrainian drones were detected over Russia, Moscow officials reported on Saturday, a day after an 18-hour aerial barrage across Ukraine killed at least 39 civilians.

The Kremlin accused Ukrainian forces of also shelling Belgorod, killing 10 people and injuring 45. 

Two children were among the dead in the Russian border city, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement on social media. 

Though past attacks on the Belgorod region have typically happened at night, social media images on Saturday showed fires in the centre of the city, with cars ablaze and plumes of smoke pouring from buildings. 

One strike hit close to a public ice rink in the very heart of the city.

Air raid sirens sounded across the city, state media reported.

Earlier on Saturday, drones were seen in the skies over Russia’s Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk regions, the country’s defence ministry said in a statement.

It did not report any casualties and said all of the drones had been destroyed by air defences.

Cities across western Russia have come under regular attack from drones since May, with Russian officials blaming Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean peninsula. However, larger aerial strikes against Russia have previously followed heavy assaults on Ukrainian cities.

Moscow’s forces launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones across Ukraine Friday, an onslaught described by one air force official as the biggest aerial barrage of the war.

At least 160 people were wounded and an unknown number were buried under rubble in the assault, which damaged a maternity hospital, apartment blocks, and schools.

Western officials and analysts recently warned that Russia limited its cruise missile strikes for months in an apparent effort to build up stockpiles for massive strikes during the winter, hoping to break the Ukrainians’ spirit.

Fighting along the front line is largely bogged down by winter weather after Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive failed to make a significant breakthrough along the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) line of contact.

Questions remain as to why Ukraine is still sending drone attacks when they tend not to have the desired effect.

​​Against the backdrop of its gritty counteroffensive, the nation continues to fire drone after drone deep inside Russian territory, targeting Moscow especially.

Yet, bar some exceptions, most strikes lack a clear military objective and almost always cause no casualties or damage – especially when they are often intercepted by Russian air defences.

Experts told Euronews in September a key element is psychological warfare, with Ukraine trying to boost morale at home by showing offensive power. However, others suggested military motives also existed. Read more on this story here.