Even as Moscow claimed to be finalizing a peace proposal to end the war, Russia and Ukraine have launched a string of drone attacks on one another over the weekend.
Ten people were hurt by Russia’s use of 60 drones throughout various regions throughout the night, according to Ukrainian air force officials on Tuesday. 43 of them were intercepted by Kyiv’s air defenses, 35 of whom were shot down, and eight were diverted using electronic warfare devices.
After Russian drones set off fires at night in Dnipropetrovsk, central Ukraine, governor Serhiy Lysak reported damage to residential and agricultural properties. A 59-year-old man and six municipal workers were hurt in a drone attack in Kherson, a southern city that is frequently targeted by Russian strikes, according to officials.
One of the war’s heaviest aerial offensives, Ukraine, was the site of the barrage, which came days later. Russia’s air force claimed 355 drone launches on Sunday night alone, a record number.
Vladimir Putin has “gone absolutely CRAZY,” according to Donald Trump, president of the United States, and he has threatened to impose new sanctions as a result. Trump was later cleared of the remarks by the Kremlin, who claimed he had “emotional overload.”
Russia claimed on Tuesday that its massive aerial assaults against its own citizens were a “response” to the recent escalating Ukrainian drone attacks, accusing Kyiv of trying to “disrupt” peace efforts.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated in a statement that “Kyiv has taken a number of provocative steps to thwart negotiations initiated by Russia with the support of some European countries.”
On Tuesday, the ministry reported that its forces shot down 99 Ukrainian drones, including 56 over the Ukrainian-occupied Belgorod region.
More than 2,300 Ukrainian drones were intercepted by air defense units between May 20 and May 27, according to the report, 465 of which were outside active conflict zones.
More territory is seized by Russia.
Russian troops have taken four villages in the northeastern Sumy region of Ukraine, the regional governor confirmed on Tuesday.
Even though civilians had already been evacuated, Oleh Hryhorov claimed that now the government was in charge of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka, and Zhuravka. He wrote on Facebook, “The enemy is making further advances in an effort to establish a so-called “buffer zone.”
The nearby village of Bilovody was also claimed by Russia’s Defense Ministry, citing further advances made close to the border.
Moscow’s main offensive is still in Donetsk, but its expansion into Sumy demonstrates how Russian forces are slicing the Ukrainian army across multiple fronts.
This week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, made another warning that Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia are likely to experience new Russian offensives.
Russian forces have been using drones to launch small attacks in small groups on motorcycles. Ukrainian forces claim that precision fire is being used to attack enemy positions while maintaining the line.
For the first time in the region, Russia has seized a strip of border villages, according to military blog DeepState, which reported over the weekend.
36 people were killed in Sumy last month when a Russian missile went off.
Russia contends that peace talks are being undermined by Europe.
Russia has blamed European leaders for the slowing down of diplomatic relations despite recent territorial gains and rising violence.
According to a source from Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Putin and Hakan Fidan, the Turkish Foreign Minister, met on Monday to talk about efforts to end the Ukrainian conflict. As part of his two-day visit to Moscow, Fidan also met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.
Lavrov criticized German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during the meeting, pointing out that his recent remarks about the use of Western weapons against strikes by Ukraine inside Russia show that the decision to approve such attacks was made long before it was made public.
Lavrov claimed Merz’s statement was instructive in that it revealed more about the current generation of Western leaders than it did about policy.
According to Lavrov, “this demonstrates how some people have come to power in important European nations.”
Prior to this, Merz had previously stated that the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the US no longer had range restrictions on the weapons they supplied to Kyiv, thereby allowing for deeper attacks into Russian territory.
Merz claimed that restrictions on the delivery of weapons to Ukraine had been lifted while he was on a formal visit to Finland on Tuesday. He cited Russia’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful dialogue as a cause for the conflict’s lingering effects. He told reporters, “We may need to get ready for a longer period.”
Moscow also accused Ukraine and its allies in Europe of purposefully stifling efforts to restart peace talks. According to the statement, “Ukraine has been conducting intense strikes on Russian territory using Western-provided weapons and purposefully attacking civilian infrastructure” since May 20.
The first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years ended on May 16 with a ceasefire. Since then, Russia has maintained that it is working on a draft, serious version of the cease-fire agreement.
According to Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, “this is a serious draft, a draft of a serious document that requires careful checks and preparation,” adding that it has not yet been submitted.
The draft, according to Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, would be presented to Kyiv once it was finalized, spell out crucial terms for a political settlement and a potential ceasefire.
Source: Aljazeera
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