KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian drones struck a Russian National Guard campus in the Russian region of Chechnya on Sunday as Kiev continued to fight back following a massive air attack from Moscow.
Footage on social media showed the drone flying low over Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, about 800 kilometers southeast of Ukraine's front lines, before exploding. No casualties were reported.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed that a drone crashed into the premises of the Akhmat Grozny riot police battalion and said two other drones were shot down by air defense forces.
Mr. Kadyrov vowed revenge against the Ukrainian military and said he had ordered a missile attack on military facilities in Kharkov in retaliation for the attack. This claim could not be independently verified.
Russia's Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that it shot down 15 Ukrainian-made drones overnight over the country's Kursk and Belgorod regions and over the Black Sea. There was no mention of the Grozny attack.
Officials from Ukraine's security services also told The Associated Press on Sunday that Ukrainian intelligence services carried out a special operation to cut off Russian logistics and fuel supply routes from Ukraine's annexed Crimea to occupied Zaporizhzhia.
One locomotive and 40 tanker cars were destroyed in the operation, which took place on Saturday, security officials said. There was reportedly sabotage while the train was running and the tracks were blown up before the HIMARS rocket launch system took part in the attack.
“As a result, a major railway branch used to supply the Russian military was out of service for an extended period of time,” said the official, who requested anonymity to share sensitive information.
Kiev attacked Russia over the weekend, following Moscow's salvo of shelling across Ukraine on Friday and also torching a major oil terminal on Saturday. Russia launched 93 cruise and ballistic missiles and about 200 drones at its neighbor, damaging Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Russian forces also continue to advance slowly in eastern Ukraine. The Institute for War Studies, a Washington-based think tank, reported on Sunday that location-based footage showed Russian troops located inside the Krahov settlement. Russian forces had been besieging the Krahov settlement for several weeks, surrounding it from three sides.
With US President-elect Donald Trump taking office next month, questions have been raised about whether vital US military aid to Kiev will continue, and there is further uncertainty about how next year's war will unfold. is increasing.
In an interview published Thursday in Time magazine, President Trump said he was opposed to allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to attack targets on Russian territory.
Meanwhile, Russia launched 108 drones across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. According to the report, 56 aircraft were shot down by air defense forces, and a further 49 aircraft failed to reach their targets and disappeared from radar. Three more drones have returned to Russia, officials said.
Governor Vitaly Kim said the attack injured two people in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv and also damaged local infrastructure.
