Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Russia launched drone strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said, a day after Kyiv’s forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia. The fresh attacks came as world leaders gathered for this week’s UN General Assembly, with no sign of a breakthrough in efforts to end the war more than four years after Russia invaded Ukraine.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects to meet US President Donald Trump at the annual event in New York, while Russian President Vladimir Putin is not due to attend. On Monday, Trump called the war “ridiculous” and said Moscow had “unfortunately lost control” of its diesel oil production as Ukraine continued long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries.
Zelenskyy said the Russian bombardment of Zaporizhzhia hit apartment blocks, a university and a shopping mall, among other sites, and wounded five people. He also said Russia struck nine other regions of Ukraine. In northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, a Russian drone hit a home on Monday, killing a 45-year-old woman and seriously injuring her 13-year-old son, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
“Russia is not backing down from its escalation and is sending many signals that it is ready to expand the war,” Zelenskyy said. “At the UN General Assembly, we will discuss how we can achieve peace through joint efforts.” Russia’s Defence Ministry said its military had targeted Ukrainian logistics hubs, warehouses and ports, among other military-related sites, overnight.
The latest strikes followed a large Ukrainian drone attack on Russia from Saturday to Sunday, including hundreds aimed at Moscow, as voters turned out for the third and final day of a parliamentary election. Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday that its air defences had shot down 244 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions and the waters of the Black Sea. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down or suppressed 148 Russian drones in an overnight attack.
Trump said in a social media post: “A large number of (Russian) diesel refineries have been blown up and are, at least temporarily, out of commission.” Earlier this month, he had urged Zelenskyy to stop the refinery strikes, saying the attacks were causing a global shortage and price spikes. European leaders, worried that Moscow has hostile intentions on the continent, want to increase pressure on Putin to withdraw from Ukraine, but the Russian leader has given no indication that he is ready to abandon his goals.
The cross-border drone attacks have also affected neighbouring countries. Moldova’s Ministry of Defence said part of the country’s northern airspace was temporarily closed overnight after surveillance systems detected an “aerial object” entering its airspace shortly after midnight. In recent weeks, Moldova’s airspace has been violated several times and drone debris has been found on its territory. With electronic jamming capable of knocking drones off course, it was not clear whether the drones were Russian or Ukrainian, though Moldovan officials have often blamed Moscow. Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu has repeatedly condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine and earlier this month said Moscow’s “brutal war is reaching our border” after Russian strikes along Moldova’s frontier with Ukraine. Drone incursions into Romania’s airspace have also risen sharply.
The latest attacks on Zaporizhzhia and other Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s large drone assault on Russia, and reports of airspace incursions in Moldova and Romania together underlined the continuing intensity of the conflict as leaders assembled at the UN without any clear sign of the war easing.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
