Russia and Ukraine have exchanged an unprecedented number of drone strikes, both since the beginning of the conflict in 2022 and the most in a single night-time attack of the war.
Moscow launched a total of 145 drones on Saturday night, while Ukraine also fired an unprecedented number of drones (supposedly 34) towards Moscow on the same night.
Shahed drones are cheap, one-way attack drones. They are “fire and forget,” meaning a flight path is programed, the UAV is launched, and it then independently flies towards the target area, and these make up most of the drones used by Russia on the fateful Saturday night.
The Ukrainian Air Force command says that by morning, its defences had shot down 62 of these. Meanwhile, 67 drones were lost around Ukraine, and another 10 flew towards Moldova, Belarus, and Russia. The Odessa Port also suffered damage.
Russia, however, shot down all 34 Ukrainian “airplane-type” drones. Ukraine retaliated by the exploding an ammunition dump in Byransk.
President Zelensky added that during the week, Russia has used over 800 guided aerial bombs, around 600 strike drones, and nearly 20 missiles of various types. Ukrainian commentators claim that the strike on Moscow was in response to a massive Russian drone barrage in Kiev on Thursday, soon after Donald Trump was elected.
Victims of drones surrounding Moscow were burned and are in intensive care, though business went on in Moscow proper.
Both Russia and Ukraine have developed their drones significantly in the past two years, leading to remarkable destruction on both sides.
Meanwhile, Russia keeps its supply of soldiers coming in dozens of thousands – including with reinforcements from North Korea. Assuming there’s a stalemate of sorts in place, the resolution may boil down to external mediation. Global media coverage has waned on the subject of the war in Ukraine, both as time has gone on and as Donald Trump was elected, causing a great deal of public controversy both in the US and around the world. Trump has claimed that he can “fix the war in Ukraine in 24 hours”.
Putin himself has indicated he is ready to listen to Trump’s proposal, with a pre-condition that the US cease military assistance to Ukraine before bilateral relations can be improved. Zelensky is likely to fly to US this week for talks, after his visit to Trump Tower last month was “very positive”.
Trump’s aides have previously sketched the outlines of a Russia-friendly “peace plan”, which would involve current frontlines being frozen, with Russia usurping Crimea and much of the east of the country, plus a veto or a long-term pause on Kiev’s Nato application.
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