Russia fired more than 100 drones at civilian areas of Ukraine overnight, authorities said Monday, as the Kremlin dismissed the country's transport chief after a weekend of travel chaos when Russian airports grounded hundreds of flights due to the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks.
At least 10 civilians were killed and 38 injured, including three children, in Russian attacks over the previous 24 hours, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia recently has intensified its aerial strikes on civilian areas after more than three years of war. Over the past week, Russia launched some 1,270 drones, 39 missiles and almost 1,000 powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
Russia's bigger army is also trying hard to break through at some points along the roughly 1,000-km front line, where Ukrainian forces are severely stretched.
The strain of keeping Russia's invasion at bay, and the lack of progress in direct peace talks, has compelled Ukraine to seek more military help from the US and Europe.
Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukraine had inked deals with European allies and a leading US defence company to step up drone production, ensuring Kyiv receives “hundreds of thousands” more this year.
“Air defence is the main thing for protecting life,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Monday.
That includes developing and manufacturing interceptor drones that can stop Russia's long-range Shahed drones, he said.
Extensive use of drones has also helped Ukraine compensate for its troop shortages on the front line.
One person was killed in the southern city of Odesa, 27 were injured in northeastern Kharkiv and falling drone debris caused damage in two districts of Kyiv, the capital, during nighttime drone attacks, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russian short-range drones also killed two people and injured two others in the northern Sumy region, officials said. Sumy is one of the places where Russia has concentrated large numbers of troops.
Also, nine people were injured and seven killed in the eastern Donetsk region, regional Gov Vadym Filashkin said. He didn't specify the type of weapons used.
Meanwhile, Russia's Defence Ministry said Monday that its troops shot down 91 Ukrainian drones in 13 Russian regions overnight, as well as over the Black Sea and the Russian-annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
The Kremlin dismissed Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt on Monday, an order published on the Kremlin website said.
The announcement did not give a reason for Starovoyt's dismissal. Over the weekend, hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo and St Petersburg's Pulkovo airports. Other airports in western and central Russia also faced disruptions because of Ukrainian drone attacks.