2023-12-16 10:08:02
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine reported dozens of attempted drone strikes in the past day, just hours after Hungary vetoed giving Kiev $50 billion ($54.5 billion) in aid funds. the European Union.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Saturday that its anti-aircraft defenses shot down 30 of 31 drones launched overnight against 11 regions of the country.
Russia, for its part, claimed Friday night that it foiled a series of Ukrainian drone attacks.
Russian anti-aircraft units destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones over the Crimean peninsula, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram. Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014, a step considered illegal by most of the international community, and has used the territory as a staging and supply point during the war.
Previously, the Russian ministry had reported the neutralization of six drones in Kursk, a region that shares a border with Ukraine.
In Kherson, a Ukrainian province partially occupied by Russian troops, Kremlin-appointed governor Vladimir Saldo said on Telegram that Russian anti-aircraft units shot down at least 15 air targets near the city of Henichesk.
Separately, shelling killed two people in the part of the region controlled by kyiv, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported Saturday.
Both sides have increased their drone strikes in the past month in a bid to show they are not deadlocked as the war approaches its second anniversary. Neither kyiv nor Moscow have made any major territorial gains despite the Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in June, and analysts predict the conflict will be long.
EU leaders on Friday tried to disguise their inability to inject the 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) promised over the next four years into Ukrainian coffers by stating that the funds could arrive next month, after a new negotiation between the other 26 community leaders and Hungary’s long-resisting Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
To compensate, they gave the go-ahead for Ukraine to begin accession negotiations that could mean a radical change in its fortunes, although the process could drag on for more than a decade and be plagued by obstacles posed by any partner.
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