Ukrainian officials reported Thursday that Russia attacked overnight with 17 drones, leaving damage in Mykolaiv and Odesa but no reported casualties.
The Ukrainian air force said the country’s air defenses destroyed 11 of the drones over the Mykolaiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Vitaliy Kim, the regional governor in Mykolaiv, said on Telegram there was damage to residential and industrial buildings.
In Odesa, the regional governor, Oleh Kiper, reported damage to an unfinished high-rise building and a school.
Russia’s military said Thursday it shot down a Ukrainian drone that was targeting Crimea.
The attacks came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed in his nightly address to “retaliate against Russia” for every missile and drone it launches. Zelenskyy also said Ukraine will work to bolster its air defenses.
After talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Wednesday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the Ukrainian leader “asked for additional ammunition, drones and air defense systems.”
Borrell said his top priority is mobilizing EU military aid for Ukraine.
U.S. and NATO officials on Wednesday reaffirmed their strong support for Ukraine’s continued battle against Russia as top humanitarian leaders denounced a wave of missile attacks Ukraine’s president said killed at least five people.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking at NATO headquarters, sounded a confident tone despite the dramatic collapse, Tuesday, of a Senate deal to fund Ukraine’s defense and buttress the southern U.S. border. In remarks delivered before the bill cratered, President Joe Biden said the lapse in U.S. support is “just what Putin wants.”
Sullivan, though, said he was hopeful.
“Even in the last 24 hours, you’ve seen a significant number of Republicans come out and say that no matter what else happens, we need to move forward a package of support for Ukraine,” he said. “As President Biden said yesterday, history will record any failure to deliver the type of assistance that’s contained in the package that was put forward this week.”
He also stressed, as have other administration officials, that if Washington does not deliver, there is no Plan B.
“At the end of the day, there is no alternative to the United States stepping up to the plate and providing a level of resources that allow Ukraine to have the artillery, the air defense systems and the other capabilities they need,” Sullivan said in Brussels. “And time is of the essence in this regard. So we’re going to stay focused on that and we believe that we still can and will deliver it.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.