KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian air defenses shot down greater than 30 Russian cruise missiles and drones in Moscow’s sixth air assault in six days on Kyiv, native officers stated Friday.

The Ukrainian capital was concurrently attacked from totally different instructions by Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles from the Caspian area, senior Kyiv official Serhii Popko wrote on Telegram.

A 68-year-old man and an 11-year-old youngster had been wounded within the assault, with non-public homes, outbuildings and vehicles sustaining injury from falling particles, in keeping with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

A current spate of assaults on the capital has put a pressure on residents and examined the power of Ukraine’s air defenses whereas Kyiv officers plot what they are saying is an upcoming counteroffensive to push again the Kremlin’s forces 15 months after their full-scale invasion. Kyiv was the goal of drone and missile assaults on 17 days final month, together with daylight assaults.

Moscow’s technique might backfire, nonetheless, in keeping with the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based suppose tank.

The air marketing campaign goals to “degrade Ukrainian counteroffensive capabilities, but … the Russian prioritization of Kyiv is likely further limiting the campaign’s ability to meaningfully constrain potential Ukrainian counteroffensive actions,” it stated in an evaluation late Thursday.

Ukrainian air defenses intercepted all 15 cruise missiles and 21 assault drones, Ukraine’s chief of employees, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, stated.

Meanwhile, border areas of Russia as soon as once more got here beneath hearth from Ukraine. Recent cross-border raids have additionally rattled these areas of Russia and put the Kremlin on guard.

That may very well be a Ukrainian technique to disperse Russian forces earlier than a counteroffensive begins.

“Russian commanders now face an acute dilemma of whether to (strengthen) defenses in Russia’s border regions or reinforce their lines in occupied Ukraine,” the U.Ok. Ministry of Defense stated Friday.

Air protection techniques shot down “several Ukrainian drones” in a single day Thursday in Russia’s southern Kursk area, which borders Ukraine, regional Gov. Roman Starovoit wrote on Telegram.

In the neighboring Bryansk area, which additionally borders Ukraine, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz stated that Ukrainian forces shelled two villages on Friday morning. No casualties had been reported.

Two drones additionally attacked power amenities in Russia’s western Smolensk area, which borders Belarus, within the early hours of Friday, officers stated.

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