Firefighters work desperately to tackle huge blaze in Ukraine following Russian missile and drone strikes overnight
- Ukraine said this week it had completely repelled an attack of 89 drones
- Drone attacks in both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up in recent months
Ukrainian firefighters worked tirelessly to extinguish a blaze in the central region of Vinnytsia this morning after fending off a wave of Russian missiles and drone strikes.
A huge blaze tore through a critical infrastructure facility in the Ukrainian region overnight, prompting an air-raid warning and officials to warn locals to 'stay in shelters until the all-clear is given'.
Nataliia Zabolotna, First Deputy Head of Vinnytsia Oblast Military Administration, confirmed the hit and said the State Emergency Service was already at the scene in the early hours of Saturday morning.
There was no information about possible victims, she wrote on Facebook.
The strikes came after Ukraine mounted devastating attacks in Russia late Friday, claiming to have successfully targeted a military airfield and oil depot with drones.
Russia did not address the claims regarding the destroyed airfield, but local officials claimed that schools, kindergartens and residential houses were among the buildings hit during the attacks.
Firefighters work at the site damaged in a Russian drone strike overnight, on Saturday
A local official said there was no available information on the possible victims last night
The blaze continues to tear through the facility on Saturday, following strikes on Friday
Firefighters were reported to be at the scene from 1am
The strikes came after Ukraine delivered devastating attacks in Russia late Friday
Kyiv said today it had faced several missiles and 29 drones, out of which 24 drones were destroyed.
Local officials in the central region of Vinnytsia confirmed the attacks had damaged infrastructure, without giving any further details.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 24 out of 29 Shahed-type drones launched by Russia in the overnight attack over nine regions.
Russian forces also launched two S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles and two Kh-31 missiles, the air force said.
Kherson regional governor Oleksander Prokudin said air defence shot down five drones over his region on Saturday. Russian attacks on the region in the past day struck critical infrastructure, an administrative building and nine residential homes, he said.
Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said one of the drones shot down by air defence caused a fire in outbuildings, which has since been extinguished, with no casualties reported.
The attacks in Ukraine followed Ukrainian attacks in Russia, which President Zelenskyy confirmed and praised on social media.
He stressed that Russia has launched more than 600 guided air bombs on Ukraine in the last week alone.
'Russian combat aircraft must be destroyed where they are, by all means that are effective. Striking at Russian airfields is also quite fair,' he wrote.
Kyiv has stepped up its own cross-border attacks in recent months, targeting towns and villages within Russia, as well as energy sites that it says fuel Russia's assault.
The shift followed some of Ukraine's international backers giving their blessing for Kyiv to use donated weapons to attack Russia directly, prompting outcry from the Kremlin and repeated threats of retribution.
The decision to allow Ukraine to attack Russian soil with western weapons, in turn, followed the opening of a new Russian offensive in the north of Ukraine.
'Last night, drones from Ukraine's Security Service visited the Morozovsk airfield in the Rostov region' that stored aircraft and guided aerial bombs, a defence source in Kyiv said on Saturday.
'Ukrainian drones did a great job, hitting the aviation ammunition depot,' the source added.
Firefighters work at a site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, in Kyiv region, Ukraine July 31
An explosion of a drone is seen in the sky over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike on July 31
A soldier of Ukraine's National Guard launches a reconnaissance drone to determine Russian positions near the front line in Zaporizhzhia region, July 29
Drones have become an essential part of both Russia and Ukraine's arsenals during the war
Local governor Vasily Golubev said on Telegram that authorities introduced a state of emergency in the district of Morozovsk.
'At the moment we have recorded damage to the windows in several social facilities, including schools and kindergartens, as well as in residential houses and industrial premises,' Golubev said on Telegram.
The source in the Ukrainian defence sector also said its forces hit a fuel warehouse in the Kamensky district of the Rostov region, where Russian officials earlier reported a drone attack set fire to oil tanks.
Moscow did not address the specific claim but the Russian defence ministry said it destroyed at least 76 drones launched by Kyiv, including 36 over the border region of Rostov and 17 in the Oryol region.
Russian air defence disabled eight and nine drones respectively over the regions of Kursk and Belgorod, also bordering Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Ukraine said it repelled one of Russia's largest long-range drone attacks since February 2022, shooting down all 89 drones which included a 'significant' number of decoys trying to deplete Ukraine's air defences.
