War in Ukraine: Russia claims capture of Vyshneve in Donetsk

Russia launched 96 drone attacks towards Ukraine on Saturday and Sunday, with Ukraine’s military claiming to have shot down 66 of them, according to Ukrainian media.

Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkiv were reported to be among 10 regions affected by the drone attacks. In Kyiv, debris from one of the drones caused damage to civilian infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in a message posted on X on Sunday that, “Over the past week, it [Russia] has used more than 900 bombs, around 30 missiles and nearly 500 “Shaheds”, targeting various regions in the country.”

Russia also claims to have captured the village of Vyshneve in Donetsk, near the strategic hub of Pokrovsk, according to a statement by the Defence Ministry.

Meanwhile, according to the Russian state news agency Tass, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that “Ukrainian armed forces launched 14 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 27 projectiles towards Russia’s Belgorod region along the border during the past day.”

“Ten projectiles were fired at the villages of Dubovoye, Krasny Khutor, Otradnoye, Repnoye, Streletskoye and Yasniye Zori in the Belgorodsky District. Eight drone attacks were carried out; air defences downed six UAVs,” he wrote on Telegram.

The agency also reported that Russian air defences destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones in the Volgograd, Belgorod and Rostov regions.

“Last night, on-line air defences shot down 19 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones involved in the Kiev regime’s attempt to carry out terrorist attacks on targets in Russia. Sixteen unmanned aerial aircraft were destroyed over the Rostov Region, two over the Belgorod Region and one over the Volgograd Region,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.