Russia launches record drone attack on Ukraine, hitting key water and energy facilities

Russia fired its largest drone assault yet against Ukraine on Tuesday, launching a 188 UAV barrage that hit key water and energy facilities as Moscow ramps up its attacks on Kyiv, officials said.

The Kremlin launched the drones overnight against the western region of Ternopil, with Kyiv only managing to shoot down 76 UAVs while losing track of another 96 due to active electronic warfare, according to Kyiv’s military.

“The enemy launched a record number of Shahed attack UAVs and unidentified drones,” Ukrainian officials said, referencing the cheaply produced suicide drones that have plagued Kyiv’s air defenses.

“Unfortunately, there were hits to critical infrastructure facilities, and private and apartment buildings were damaged in several regions due to the massive drone attack,” Kyiv’s Air Force added.

Vyacheslav Nehoda, the regional governor, said the massive strike decimated Ternopil’s power grid and left 70% of the region without power.

“The consequences are bad because the facility was significantly affected and this will have [an] impact on the power supply of the entire region for a long time,” Nehoda said on national TV.

The attack also damaged the region’s water and heating supplies, with local authorities warning of planned power cuts in the aftermath of Tuesday’s attack.

Ternopil is located 134 miles east of NATO-member Poland, with the region once sporting a population of more than a million people before Russia began its invasion in February 2022.

Moscow’s attack came a day after Kyiv launched its own successful drone operation against Russia’s energy grid in the Kaluga region.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate reportedly fired their own suicide drones after midnight Monday, hitting an oil depot in Kaluga that went up in flames, according to the Kyiv Post.

Videos on social media quickly spread of the fire at the oil facility as the Ukrainian drones swerved past Russia’s air defense system to hit their target.

Russia’s defense ministry and local officials claimed that Russia’s air defense system shot down eight drones in Kaluga, and a total of 23 across multiple regions.

The Ukrainian army later confirmed that it had struck critical facilities in Russia’s Kaluga, Bryansk and Kursk regions.

Drone warfare has become a powerful tool in the Ukraine war, with both Moscow and Kyiv upping their use of explosive UAVs in 2024 to try and decimate their opponents’ energy facilities.

With Post wires