Ukraine (AP) — Moscow unleashed a massive missile and drone barrage on western Ukraine Sunday
following through on its promise to retaliate for a Ukrainian attack on a Russian tanker
Russian and Ukrainian shelling across the country overnight killed in at least six people
Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights early Sunday following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital
READ MORE: Russia accuses Ukraine of more drone attacks in Moscow and border region
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 attack drones and missiles
including cruise missiles from aircraft over the Caspian Sea and Iranian-made
deputy head of Ukraine’s Khmelnytsky region military administration
said three waves of missiles hit the Starokostiantyniv area
damaging several buildings and igniting a fire at a warehouse
The strike may have been intended for the city’s airfield
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the facilities of aircraft engine manufacturer Motor Sich in the Zaporizhzhia region had also come under attack
The Russian barrage came after a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea late Friday
Ukraine also struck a major Russian port with drones earlier the same day
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned what she called a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on a civilian vessel in the Kerch Strait
“There can be no justification for such barbaric actions
they will not go unanswered and their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be punished,” Zakharova posted on the Telegram messaging app
An official with Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed to The Associated Press that a Ukrainian drone packed with 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of explosive the service struck the tanker that as transporting fuel for Russian forces
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly
Russia’s Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport posted on Telegram that although the drone blasted a hole in the tanker’s engine room
there were no casualties among the 11 crew members
a Ukrainian missile hit the Chonhar bridge that connects the Russian-occupied Kherson region and northern Crimea
The strike caused minor damage to the bridge’s roadway
the Moscow-installed leader of the Kherson region
He also said that several more rockets had been shot down by air defense forces at the time of the attack
which is one of three key road bridges connecting the Crimean peninsula to the mainland
Two of the six fatalities overnight Sunday occurred during a Russian air strike in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region
according to the head of the local regional military administration
Zelenskyy said that a guided bomb had hit a blood transfusion center in the area’s Kupyan district late on August 5
“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media
“Defeating terrorists is a matter of honor for everyone who values life.”
Heavy shelling continued along the frontline in Eastern Ukraine as Kyiv continues to push forward with its ongoing counteroffensive
a 58-year-old woman was killed and a 66-year-old man was hospitalized after Russian shelling of the village of Podoly
Russian missiles injured a 55-year-old man and ignited a forest fire
Russian attacks in the Donetsk region villages of Torske and Niu-York killed two people
local governor Pavlo Kyrylenko posted on social media
WATCH: Inside Ukraine’s counteroffensive as forces step up grueling fight against Russia
Ukrainian shelling in Russian-held Donetsk killed a woman in her eighties
the city’s Moscow-appointed mayor Alexei Kulemzin said Sunday
The shelling also set the main building of a university on fire
according to the Moscow-installed head of the illegally annexed region
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said that the blaze caused the building’s roof to collapse
located 15 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of the Russian capital
briefly suspended flights Sunday morning after a drone was shot down in the airspace around the city
The attack was one of four strikes on the Russian capital in the space of a month
spotlighting Moscow’s vulnerability as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its second year
The drone was destroyed by air defense systems in the Podolsk region of the Moscow suburbs
The Russian defense ministry said no one was injured from the abortive drone attack
although Russian media outlet Baza later reported that a 77-year-old man suffered a shrapnel wound to his hand
The reports could not be independently verified
which generally avoid commenting on attacks on Russian soil
Flights were last halted at the airport on July 30
when two drones crashed into the Moscow City business district after being jammed by Russian air defenses
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Russia aimed a barrage of cruise missiles and exploding drones at a key Ukrainian air base overnight on Wednesday
in an apparent attempt to ground the planes that carry Ukraine's Storm Shadow missiles
Yuriy Inhat, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Air Force Command, said on Telegram that Russia had unleashed a massive barrage towards the Starokostiantyniv air base in Khmelnytskyi
some damage was inflicted at the base by four Kinzhal missiles air-launched from MiG-31K jets
Insider was unable to independently verify the report.
The extent of the damage is a crucial question. Starokostiantyniv is, according to Forbes
the base for the only regiment that flies the Su-24 aircraft that carry the UK-supplied Storm Shadow missile
A major strike could potentially take out what is believed to be Ukraine's only current means of air-launching the missile
likely massively curtailing Ukraine's ability to strike far beyond the front lines.
Although Ukraine has not revealed the targets it has hit with the missile
several strikes deep within Russian-held territory — not easy to hit any other way — have been attributed to the missile
Russian military blogger Rybar claimed that four Storm Shadows struck targets in Crimea on Monday
including a major Russian military vehicle repair depot
although local authorities did announce an evacuation of the area