Russia launches one of its biggest airstrikes in months, but Ukraine says no critical infrastructure hit.
Ukraine's air force says it has repelled one of the largest airstrikes launched by Russia on its territory in months.
The Air Force said Wednesday it shot down all incoming projectiles (89 drones and one missile) launched by Russia overnight, with the strike primarily targeting the central Kiev region.
The kyiv military administration said more than 40 drones were shot down over the capital kyiv and its surroundings.
There was some damage to buildings as a result of falling debris, but no casualties were reported.
“Today, Ukrainian air defenses withstood and repelled a massive attack by enemy drones,” the air force said in a statement, identifying them as “Shahed-131/136 attack drones.”
kyiv and most of central and eastern Ukraine have been under air raid alert since 20:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Serhiy Popko, head of kyiv's military administration, said the latest drone strike was the seventh carried out against the city in July.
Some 11,500 residents took shelter in subway stations overnight as drones arrived in waves from “every possible direction,” city officials said.
Russia fires drones and missiles at Ukraine almost every night. It claims its targets are military and energy facilities, but attacks on residential areas are frequent. Ukraine accuses Russia of directly attacking civilians, something Moscow denies.
Nuclear exercises
Russia's Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that the country has begun the third stage of exercises to practice deploying tactical nuclear weapons.
Russia held the first stage of the exercises in May and its ally Belarus joined the second stage in June.
Since sending thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia could use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme situations.
Russia says the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by delivering billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine, some of which are being launched into Russian territory.
Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Andrei Nastasin said on Wednesday that a munitions factory being built in Ukraine by German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall would be considered a “legitimate target” for the Russian military.
Ukraine's military said Wednesday it had attacked a weapons and military equipment storage facility in Russia's Kursk region overnight.
The acting governor of the Kursk region said on Telegram that air defenses had destroyed four Ukrainian missiles in two districts.
