Ukrainian drone strikes in southern Russia killed a 9-year-old boy and set fire to a major oil terminal, officials said Saturday, a day after Moscow launched a massive aerial attack on its neighbor that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as one of the most intense bombardments of the country’s energy sector in the nearly three-year war.
The youngster was killed after a drone struck his family’s home in Belgorod, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, according to local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov on Saturday morning via the Telegram messaging app. Gladkov reported that his mother and 7-month-old sister were hospitalized due to injuries.
He released images of what he claimed was the aftermath of the attack, including a low-rise house with huge holes in its roof and front wall, surrounded by mounds of rubble.
Meanwhile, in southern Russia, Ukrainian drones struck a large oil station in the Oryol region overnight, causing a fire, according to the General Staff of Ukraine. Photos released by the General Staff and on Russian Telegram news channels showed massive plumes of smoke engulfing the complex, backed by an orange glow.
Oryol Governor Andrey Klychkov admitted that a Ukrainian drone strike caused fire to a gasoline depot. He later stated that the fire had been extinguished and that there had been no injuries.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on Saturday that its forces had shot down 37 Ukrainian drones over the country’s south and west the night before.
Russia pummels Ukrainian energy targets
The Ukrainian strikes came a day after Russia launched 93 cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as nearly 200 drones, wreaking havoc on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, roughly half of which has been destroyed during the conflict. Rolling power outages are routine and pervasive, and Zelenskyy claimed Friday that Moscow is “terrorizing millions of people” with such attacks.
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia continued its drone assaults on Saturday, launching 132 over Ukrainian territory. Fifty-eight drones were shot down, while another 72 diverted off course, most likely owing to electronic jamming, officials claimed.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that its forces employed long-range precision missiles and drones to target “critically important fuel and energy facilities in Ukraine that ensure the functioning of the military industrial complex.”
The strike was in reprisal for Wednesday’s Ukrainian attack on a Russian air base with Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, supplied by the United States, according to the statement.
Ukraine’s Western allies have equipped it with air defense systems to assist it protect important infrastructure, but Russia has attempted to overwhelm the air defenses with coordinated operations using large numbers of missiles and drones known as “swarms.”
Russia has held the initiative this year, as its military has methodically pushed through Ukrainian lines in the east in a series of modest but consistent offensives.
However, how the fight will play out next year is uncertain. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month, has promised to end the war and has called into question whether essential US military assistance to Kyiv will continue.
North Koreans reportedly in combat in Kursk
According to Zelenskyy, Moscow is sending a “significant number” of North Korean troops to attack Russia’s southern Kursk area, where Ukrainian troops have held out after a surprise cross-border raid this summer.
In a televised address, Zelenskyy stated that while North Korean soldiers have not yet entered the war on Ukrainian land, they have already suffered “noticeable” losses.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that Russian shelling on Friday and overnight killed at least two people and injured 14 others in front-line districts of Ukraine’s south and northeast.
