Russia and Ukraine exchange drone strikes as Zelensky calls on allies for “unwavering” help

Ukrainian authorities said a Russian missile attack in the northeastern city of Kharkiv injured at least 23 people and damaged 41 buildings on Monday night, as Moscow troops launched a new offensive in the region and made battlefield gains along the eastern front.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that the S-400 anti-aircraft missile strike in Kharkiv was part of a multi-pronged barrage against Ukrainian cities overnight. Kyiv, Odessa and Zaporizhia were also targeted.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 145 drones, of which 71 were shot down and 71 were lost during the flight. The air force said a drone flew into Belarusian airspace.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed to have shot down 23 Ukrainian drones over several regions. The ministry also said it fired eight ballistic missiles, but did not specify their type.

MORE: Ukraine, Russia launch nighttime drone strikes amid missile strike tensions

Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of Kaluga Oblast, which borders Moscow Oblast to the southwest, said falling drone debris sparked a fire at a production facility. However, Ukraine’s General Staff said its attacks destroyed the Kaluganefteproduct oil storage facility in the city of Kaluga.

“In total, Russia has used around one and a half hundred attack drones, aerial bombs and missiles against more than ten of our regions since yesterday evening,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram early Monday.

“These attacks by Russia on Ukrainian life can be stopped,” he added. “With pressure, sanctions, blocking the occupiers’ access to the components with which they make the tools of this terror, weapons packages for Ukraine and a determination that must be unshakable.”

Just 30 kilometers from the Russian border, Ukraine’s “second city,” Kharkiv, has been under near-constant attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in early 2022.

Russian forces failed to encircle and capture Kharkiv in the first weeks of the invasion, but fighting along the shared border continued throughout the conflict.

Ukraine’s General Staff said in a post on Facebook on Monday that Russian forces had launched attacks on the settlement of Kozacha Lopan, about 3 kilometers from the border and 25 kilometers north of Kharkiv.

MORE: Russia has increased drone strikes on Ukraine by 44% since Trump’s election

Ukrainian military blogger Deep State Telegram reported that Russian forces also launched an amphibious operation across the Oskil River in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian troops were heading toward the strategic target of Kupyansk.

The Russian force has gained a foothold on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the waterway, Deep State wrote. The blogger’s claims could not immediately be verified.

Russia, Ukraine exchange drone strikes as Zelensky calls on allies for ‘unwavering’ help originally appeared on abcnews.go.com