In fresh attacks, Russia hits Ukraine with 12 drones, cruise missile, claims Ukraine’s air force

Russia launched 12 drones and a cruise missile aimed at Ukraine overnight, with Ukraine’s air defence systems destroying 10 drones before they reached their targets, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement on Sunday. The cruise missile was not destroyed but did not reach its target, the air force said without giving out any further information on the attack. It did not say what happened to the two drones that were not destroyed. There was no immediate comment from Russia on the claims made by the Ukrainian air force. The Iranian-made Shahed drones were headed towards Ukraine’s northwest, the air force said. Most were downed in the Mykolaiv region in Ukraine’s south. There were no immediate reports of damage from falling debris or the drones that were not destroyed. Russian troops, meanwhile, eased attacks on the beleaguered eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on Saturday and unofficial reports from the region suggested they had failed to capture the devastated town of Maryinka to the southwest. Russia’s military has focused on eastern Ukraine since abandoning an advance on Kyiv in the first days after the February 2022 invasion. Since mid-October, the military has set its sights on seizing Avdiivka and its vast coking plant. Russian reports over the weekend suggested Moscow’s troops had taken control of Maryinka, 40 km (25 miles) to the southwest, engulfed in fighting for well over a year. But unofficial Ukrainian reports on Saturday said its forces were holding some districts. Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun told national television that Russian attacks on Avdiivka had halved over the past 24 hours, largely as a result of heavy losses. Ukrainian forces have focussed on recapturing occupied villages in the east and south in a counteroffensive launched in June, though President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acknowledged that advances have been slower than Kyiv wanted.