Nighttime Russian drone attack hits Ukraine’s ‘critical infrastructure’, Air Force says

LONDON — Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 22 of 28 Russian drones in Moscow’s latest nighttime barrage, while acknowledging “several hits on critical infrastructure” in the west of the country.

The air force said it also shot down three Russian Kh-59/69 cruise missiles fired at the central town of Kryvy Rih.

Only three drones went missing from the latest wave, the Air Force wrote on Telegram, with one lost in flight due to jamming and two leaving Ukrainian airspace.

The force reported “several hits” on targets in the western regions of Ternopil and Rivne.

Oleksandr Koval, head of Rivne’s military administration, said on Telegram that the Russian attack targeted “energy infrastructure.”

“All appropriate services are working on site,” Koval said, adding that no casualties were reported.

In Ternopil, head of the military administration Vyacheslav Nehoda said a drone hit an industrial facility, causing a fire. “The fire has been located” and extinguished, Nehoda wrote in a Facebook update.

There were no casualties, Nehoda added, but “there were again problems with electricity supply for some subscribers.”

The Russian Defense Ministry reported the nighttime shooting down of a Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk region and another over the Belgorod region.

Russia’s campaign of long-range strikes appears set to continue through the winter in a bid to collapse Ukraine’s energy grid and exacerbate the strains of war on the national economy.

President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory in November reignited talk of peace negotiations after nearly three years of full-scale war. Moscow and kyiv are maneuvering to obtain leverage ahead of any possible negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted at the need for talks this week, telling Kyodo News that his country needed to find “diplomatic solutions” to liberate territory occupied by Moscow since 2014, acknowledging that “kyiv’s army does not doesn’t have the strength to do it.”

But Zelenskyy suggested that any talks – and any concessions – must be paired with guaranteed protection from Western partners. “An invitation to Ukraine to join NATO is something necessary for our survival,” the president said after his talks with European Union leaders in kyiv on Sunday.

As his diplomatic posturing continues, Zelensky is pushing his allies to provide more weapons, including air defense. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited kyiv on Monday and promised to buy weapons worth an additional $680 million for Ukraine.

The United States also announced on Monday a new tranche of military aid valued at $750 million. The State Department said the “urgently needed” weapons included Stinger air defense missiles, HIMARS munitions, artillery munitions and a variety of anti-tank weapons.