Russia launched a wave of drones to attack Kyiv and other regions for a second consecutive night, with air defence systems engaged in repelling the aerial weapons hours before Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was to meet with leaders of the NATO military alliance.

All drones were intercepted before hitting their targets in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to preliminary information from Ukraine’s military. There were no immediate reports of casualties or notable destruction.

“The 504th day of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. The enemy launched another air attack on the capital,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Air raid alerts were issued for more than two hours in Kyiv and the city’s military administration urged people to stay in shelters.

Russia also conducted air raids on Kyiv and other locations in the early hours of Tuesday morning with Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Washington DC-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the Ukrainian military reported shooting down 26 of 28 Shahed 131 and 136 drones, which were likely intended by Moscow to be a “demonstrative response to the 2023 NATO Summit”, which started in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Tuesday.

The Russian drones also attacked port infrastructure and a grain terminal in the Odesa region, according to Ukrainian commanders.

“Russia’s drone strikes on port infrastructure also coincide with the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius and are likely intended to discourage NATO members from providing more military aid to Ukraine,” the ISW said on Tuesday.

“Russia may be threatening the Black Sea grain deal to message the deal’s original broker, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that his recent statement of support for Ukraine’s NATO membership and the return of the five Ukrainian Azovstal commanders on July 7 has not gone unnoticed and is not appreciated by the Kremlin,” the ISW added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that Ankara had promised under a prisoner exchange agreement to keep the five Ukrainian commanders in Turkey for the duration of the war and complained that Moscow had not been informed of the move to return them to Kyiv.

Source: Al Jazeera 

BDST: 0936 HRS, JULY 12, 2023
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