A Russian airborne assault targeting eastern and southern Ukraine with attack drones, bombs and artillery on Tueaday and overnight left 11 people dead and more than 50 injured. File Photo by Sergey Kozlov/EPA
Russian attacks on eastern and southern Ukraine, including almost 180 incoming drones overnight, killed at least 11 people and injured 55, authorities said.
The largest loss of life was in the frontline province of Donetsk where Gov. Vadym Filashkin said five people were killed in strikes on two villages near Krematorsk and a third village near Sloviansk and six people were injured in separate attacks across the region.
In Dnipropetrovsk, two people were killed and nine injured in Synelnykove district, 25 miles southeast of Dnipro, after three communities were targeted with drones, aerial bombs and artillery fire, Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration head Oleksandr Ganzha said in an update on social media.
“In total, 16 private houses were destroyed in the region, another 35 were damaged. A school and a fire station were damaged,” wrote Ganzha.
A 10th person was hospitalized early Tuesday after civilian targets were struck in the Pavlohrad area of the province, east of Dnipro.
The military administration in neighboring Zaporizhzhia said one person was killed and 10 others were injured, including six employees of logistics company Nova Post, in an attack that severely damaged its postal hub.
In a post on its Telegram account, the company credited bomb shelters on-site for the fact that no one had been killed.
In the northeastern Sumy Oblast, two men in their 40s were killed after the vehicles they were riding were struck by Russian drones in separate attacks and nine other people were injured in other attacks in the province.
Kharkiv provincial Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said nine people were injured in attacks across the frontline province, including three in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
Dozens of communities in Kherson province, including the capital Kherson, were also targeted by Russian forces, killing one person and injuring nine others, including at least one child.
The central-southern Mykolaiv province also came under attack with Russian forces using First-Person-View drones to target the Black Sea towns of Ochakiv and Kutsurub, putting a man and woman in the hospital, according to provincial Gov. Vitalii Kim.
The attacks fit with claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia was prioritizing drone warfare, “scaling back costly missile production and redirecting funds toward drone production” with the aim of boosting the number of drones fired at Ukraine from 350-500 a day to 1,000.
In a post on X, Zelensky touted home-grown Ukrainian interceptor drone expertise, noting that while it required two or three interceptors at a cost of around $10,000 to down each “Shahed” [Iranian made or designed] attack drone, that compared extremely favorably with the $4 million cost of a single Patriot missile.
Zelensky was due in London on Tuesday to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to ink a new defense partnership aimed at countering cheap attack drones.
Downing Street said in a news release that the deal would “capitalise on Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities.”
It said the move was a necessary response to all-pervasive “drone surveillance, extensive electronic warfare, AI-driven targeting and the rapid, battlefield-driven innovation of uncrewed systems” that had emerged in the Ukraine conflict, permanently altering how war was being waged around the world.
“We must work in lockstep with our partners and allies to deliver security at home and abroad, and this new partnership with Ukraine will do just that. Drones, electronic warfare and rapid battlefield innovation are now central to national and economic security, and that has only been further magnified by the conflict in the Middle East,” said Starmer.
“By deepening our defence partnerships, we are strengthening Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from Russia’s brutal, ongoing attacks, while ensuring the U.K. and our allies are better prepared to meet the threats of the future,” he added.
Britain will also provide $667,000 to fund a new AI Center of Excellence within the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to ensure AI is yielding the maximum battlefield advantage, with the hope Britain’s defensive capabilities would also benefit from the knowledge gained.
Historic March moments through the years
Founder of the Women’s Tennis Association and tennis great Billie Jean King (C) smiles with representatives after speaking during an annual Women’s History Month event in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX in Statuary Hall at the U.S .Capitol in Washington on March 9, 2022. Women’s History Month is celebrated every March. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
