Kyiv denies Russian claim to have destroyed US-made Patriot air defence systems
Russia declared a state of emergency in part of its Voronezh region and evacuated several villages after a Ukrainian drone attack sparked explosions at what Kyiv said was a large ammunition depot.
The attack was one of several air strikes launched by the warring neighbours over the weekend, one of which cut electricity to more than 100,000 households in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions, all of which were reconnected by Sunday afternoon.
Russia’s military said it had used Iskander ballistic missiles to destroy two US-made Patriot air defence systems and a radar in southern Ukraine, but Kyiv claimed that only decoy models of the scarce and vital weapons had been hit.
Ukraine, in turn, said its forces had shot down a Russian Su-25 fighter jet in the eastern front-line region of Donetsk; Moscow did not immediately respond to the claim.
Voronezh governor Alexander Gusev said debris from drones shot down in the early hours of Sunday fell on a warehouse and ignited “explosive items” inside, in a district about 200km from the nearest government-controlled Ukrainian territory.
“A state of emergency has been introduced in Podgorensky district ... A section of the road that runs through the settlement has been blocked,” he added. “So far, about 50 people from three settlements have been moved to temporary accommodation centres.”
Mobile phone footage posted online from near the scene showed a huge cloud of smoke pouring from the site, where explosions could be seen and heard every few seconds.
An unnamed Ukrainian security official told Kyiv media outlets that Russia stored surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, tank and artillery shells and other ammunition at the site, over an area of 9,000sq m.
“In the near future there will continue to be a high likelihood of sudden detonations at Russian military-industrial facilities that work for the war against Ukraine,” the official warned.
Russia said debris from intercepted Ukrainian drones also hit two oil depots on Saturday in the southern Krasnodar region, causing large fires that took a day to extinguish.
Ukraine has employed domestically produced drones to target Russian energy infrastructure and airfields in recent months and used western-supplied missiles to strike air defence systems in occupied territory, in what appears to be a bid to weaken Russia’s air shield before Kyiv’s allies deliver long-awaited F-16 fighter jets this year.
Russia has conducted repeated missile and drone campaigns against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since launching a full-scale invasion of its pro-western neighbour in February 2022, destroying about half its capacity to produce electricity.
Ukraine said Russia struck 130 settlements and 83 infrastructure facilities with various weapons on Saturday, and an attack on the Sumy region caused blackouts for more than 100,000 households, all of which were reconnected by Sunday afternoon.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
