Ukraine war latest: Russia launches over 40 drones in overnight attack from Black Sea

Ukrainian air defences shot down 34 kamikaze drones this morning and overnight as Russia launched a major new wave of air strikes across the country, officials said.

Russia’s attacks involved at least 44 Iranian-made Shahed drones in total, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.

“Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units and mobile fire groups were engaged to repel the attack,” Ukraine’s military said on Telegram.

A large number of the drones were fired on southern Ukrainian cities from the Black Sea, the air force said.

Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said his region was the main target, but the attack left no casualties.

“Our air defence forces did an excellent job,” the governor said on Telegram. “No hits or destruction. There were no casualties. There were only a few small fires on dry grass as a result of the falling wreckage of the downed Shahed.”

Several hundred fighters of the Wagner mercenary group have returned to Ukraine to fight in Russia’s continuing invasion but have not made a significant impact on the battlefield, military officials in Kyiv said.

“We have recorded the presence of a maximum of several hundred fighters of the former Wagner PMC (private military company),” spokesperson for the eastern military command Serhiy Cherevatyi said.

These Wagner fighters were scattered in different places, were not part of a single unit, and had had no significant impact, he said.

Ukrainian soldiers fought off fierce Russian attacks on the battlefield on Wednesday as the invading troops continued to recapture lost territory in eastern Ukraine, military officials said.

Some progress was also seen in southern Ukraine – another pocket of heavy territorial battle in Russia’s 20-month-old invasion.

“We continue to repel intense enemy attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka. The enemy is still storming these positions with the hope of recapturing lost positions, but without success,” Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern group of forces, told national television.

The two villages – Klishchiivka and Andriivka – near Bakhmut were retaken from Russian control in mid-September in a span of three days, marking a significant territorial feat in the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“Defending democracy in Ukraine, expanding Nato – just as an aside, too bad Vladimir, you brought it on yourself,” the former US secretary of state said, prompting laughter and applause.

Ms Clinton was speaking at the State Department where she unveiled her official portrait and addressed current and former officials in the ornate Benjamin Franklin State Dining room.

Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

“There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, NATO satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. and its NATO allies have effectively become involved in the conflict by supplying weapons to Ukraine and providing it with intelligence information and helping plan attacks on Russian facilities.

Ukraine’s forces have made a number of breakthroughs against Russian positions in recent weeks as intense fighting rages on in southern and northeastern parts of the country.

Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, who is leading Ukraine’s southern counteroffensive, said that Russian troops had dedicated 60 per cent of their time to its first defence, and only 20 per cent to the second and third lines.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Ukrainian troops “enjoyed success” in villages near Bakhmut, a key town seized by Russian forces in May after some of the heaviest fighting in the 19-month-old war.

Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, told national television that Russia trained fire on Ukrainian soldiers 580 times on this front and used aircraft four times.

“On the southern flank, we continue the offensive operation. In particular, we have had successes near Zaitseve, Klishchiivka, Odradivka and Ivanivske. There, our defenders continue to knock out the enemy. Under heavy fire, they are holding the defence and consolidating positions,” he said during the 24/7 national forecast.

A top Russian naval officer who Ukraine claimed was killed in a missile strike has been seen in a new video released by Russia, sparking confusion among the war-hit country’s officials.

Ukraine’s special forces on Monday had claimed Russian admiral Viktor Sokolov and 33 other officers were killed in a missile strike carried out on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol in Crimea.

The video released by Russia’s defence ministry on Tuesday, however, showed Black Sea Fleet commander Sokolov appearing on a video conference call with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu. It remains unclear when the video was recorded.

The video has been released by the Russian Defence Ministry. It is unclear from his comments whether the clip was filmed after Ukraine’s missile strike on 22 September.

Ukraine’s special forces said on Monday that Russian admiral Viktor Sokolov and 33 other officers were killed in a missile strike carried out on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol in Crimea on Friday.