KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The Russian military launched 45 drones over Ukraine on Sunday, as the war enters its third year and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy continues to reshuffle his war cabinet. Officials announced that the bombardment continued for five and a half hours. .
Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that it shot down 40 Iranian-made Shahid drones in nine areas, including on the outskirts of the capital Kiev.
Officials with the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine wrote on Telegram that the five-and-a-half-hour attack targeted agricultural facilities and coastal infrastructure.
A strike in the Mykolaiv region injured one person and caused a fire that damaged a nearby residential building, authorities said.
Another person was injured in a fire caused by falling debris from a destroyed drone in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the region’s military administrator Serhiy Lysak announced.
Moldova’s border police also said Sunday that pieces of a Shahed-type drone were found near the southern town of Eturia, near the border with Ukraine, but that the debris did not pose a danger to nearby communities. “The detected drone fragments are suspected to be one of the drones shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems,” Border Police said in a statement, referring to the night-time attack launched by Russian forces on Ukraine’s Izmail region on Friday. “There is,” he said.
The distance between Eturia and Izmail is approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles). Authorities said access to the crash scene was restricted. Moldova’s President Maia Sandu reacted to the incident, saying in a post on his social media platform X that “Russia’s war against Ukraine is once again closing in on Moldova.” “The discovery today of fragments of a Shahed drone in southern Moldova is yet another stark reminder of the harsh reality we face,” she said. “Russian aggression puts the entire continent at risk. Support for Ukraine must continue.”
The attack comes as President Zelenskiy continues to shake up military commanders to maintain momentum against attacks on Russian forces.
Kiev announced on Sunday that former deputy defense minister Lieutenant General Alexander Pavlyuk will become the new commander of Ukraine’s ground forces.
The post was previously held by Col. Oleksandr Shirskii, who was appointed on Thursday to replace outgoing Ukrainian military commander Gen. Valery Zarzhny.
The new presidential decree also named Yury Sodor, former commander of the Marine Corps of Ukraine, as the new commander of the Allied Forces of Ukraine. Brigadier General Ihor Skiviuk as commander of the Ukrainian Air Strike Force. Major General Ihor Plakhta was appointed as the commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine.
Incoming commander-in-chief Shirushkyi has indicated that immediate goals include improving troop rotation on the front lines and harnessing the power of new technology while Kiev’s forces are largely on the defensive.
Starlink concerns
Ukraine’s military intelligence service announced on Sunday that Starlink terminals were found to have been used to support attacks on Russian forces. A recording of an intercepted conversation between two Russian soldiers was released as evidence.
The Starlink terminal, which uses a series of satellites operated by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX to provide high-speed communications, is critical to giving Ukraine’s military an edge against a Russian military invasion.
However, multiple reports of Russian military use of Starlink on the front lines in occupied Ukraine began surfacing in Ukrainian media in recent weeks.
They urged SpaceX to issue a statement on social media on February 8 saying it “does not do any business with the Russian government or military.”
But as the Russian government has become more adept at evading sanctions and increasingly importing goods through third countries, Western technology components are regularly discovered in Russia’s arsenals.
In a statement on Telegram on Saturday, President Zelensky said he wanted to “reboot” the upper echelons of Ukraine’s military with experienced combat commanders.
“New responsibilities are now being taken on by people who are well known within the military and who themselves know what the military needs,” he said.
