A combined one Missile and drone attacks According to the head of the regional administration, at least four people were killed and at least 15 injured in the Kiev region on Saturday night.
Three of the wounded are in critical condition and two of them are undergoing surgery, Mykola Kalashnyk reported on Saturday. The attack hit four districts and damaged residential buildings, educational institutions, businesses and critical infrastructure, Kalashnyk added in a social media post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the main target of the nightly attacks was “the energy infrastructure of the Kiev region.” He said Russia fired around 430 drones of various types as well as 68 missiles during the night.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that the nighttime attacks had targeted energy and industrial facilities of the Ukrainian armed forces as well as military airfields.
Genya SAVILOV /AFP via Getty Images
The attacks came days after the US postponed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine planned for this week War in the Middle East.
As US and Israeli missiles and bombs rain down on Iran, Russia responds with outraged words. Moscow is Providing intelligence information to Iran Regarding U.S. positions in the Middle East during the war, multiple sources told CBS News last week. The Kremlin’s sharing of information about U.S. assets was the first known indication that Russia was indirectly supporting Iran.
But Russia has taken no direct action to support its ally. Moscow’s failure to help another ally after the ouster of Syria’s former ruler in 2024 Bashar al-Assad and the US arrest of the Venezuelan leader in January Nicolas Maduromade clear the limits of his influence – but the Kremlin expects to benefit from the Iran war.
Already benefiting from a rise in global energy prices, Russia may hope that the Middle East war will divert Ukraine’s attention, deplete Western arsenals and force NATO allies to reduce military support for Kiev.
Zelensky on Saturday called on Kiev’s Western partners to pay “one hundred percent attention” to the need to boost production of anti-aircraft missiles.
“Russia will try to exploit the war in the Middle East to cause even greater destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine,” he said in a post on social media.
“We must be fully aware of the real scale of the threat and prepare accordingly, namely: in Europe we must develop the production of anti-aircraft missiles – especially those capable of defeating ballistic threats – as well as all other systems necessary to truly protect lives,” he said.
Kiev is also awaiting White House approval of a major drone production deal proposed by Ukraine last year, Zelensky said on Thursday, as the countries seek to modernize their air defenses after the Iran war exposed deficiencies.
Zelenskyj also criticized the 30-day rule on Thursday The USA waives oil sanctions against Russia amid war in the Middle East and said it was “not the right decision” and would not help stop Russia’s more than four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. CBS News has learned that there are currently around 124 million barrels of Russian oil at sea around the world.
“This easing by the United States alone could bring Russia about $10 billion for the war,” Zelensky said. “That certainly doesn’t contribute to peace.”
On Saturday night, Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery and port in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, local Russian officials reported.
Krasnodar authorities said three people were injured in an attack on Port Kavkaz, a port opposite Crimea used to transport liquefied natural gas and grain. A service vessel and pier infrastructure were damaged, a social media post said. One person was hospitalized, they later added in a separate post.
Falling drone debris also sparked a fire at the Afipsky oil refinery in the region, authorities said in a separate Telegram post. They said no one was injured but did not immediately comment on the damage.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 87 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 16 over the Krasnodar region and 31 over the nearby Sea of
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 16 drones were shot down on approach to the Russian capital early Saturday afternoon.
Earlier this week, both Russian and Ukrainian officials claimed progress on the front line. Ukraine said it had pushed Moscow’s forces back across front-line locations, and the Kremlin insisted Russia’s invasion of its neighbor was making progress.
Russia signaled this about two weeks ago there was no rush to make a deal to end the war against Ukraine.
“Have you heard from us about deadlines? We don’t have deadlines, we have tasks. We complete them,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state media in Moscow.
