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Belarus Reactivates Relays Helping Russian Drones Strike Deeper Into Ukraine, Kyiv Says
Developing
In Short: Ukraine reported multiple strikes across Kyiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia, with at least 19 people injured.
Ukraine’s Air Force destroyed or suppressed 131 Russian aerial targets during recent attacks, targeting Kyiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
In Odesa, seven people were injured, including two children, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, while in Kyiv’s Dniprovsky district, a warehouse, office building, residential buildings, and cars were damaged.
Ukrainian officials reported damage to civilian areas and infrastructure in the Kyiv region, including in Obukhiv, Brovary, Fastiv, and Bucha districts.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service stated that Belarus has reactivated signal relays that help Russian attack drones penetrate deeper into Ukraine, including the western regions bordering Poland.
The equipment amplifies signals for Russian Shahed and Gerbera drones, allowing them to fly farther into Ukrainian territory after entering from Russia, according to Border Guard spokesperson Andriy Demchenko.
Ukrainian officials claim that Belarus is actively assisting Russia with attacks on Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reporting a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl.
What's still developing
- Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Kyiv, said the strikes come days after United States President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to suspend attacks on energy facilities.
- “We have a situation where just a few days ago, [US President] Donald Trump announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to stop hitting each other’s energy targets,” as Trump has blamed the Russia-Ukraine war for the rising cost of diesel around the world, said Challands.
- However, “neither Russia nor Ukraine have agreed to this and they are continuing to hit each other’s energy targets”, said Challands, with Russia promising to increase its “mass attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid going into the winter months”.
- Russian attacks “almost collapsed the Ukrainian energy grid” last winter, with Ukraine’s energy providers now saying that they are “expecting another very tough winter” but hoping that it will be better than the previous one, said Challands.
- Zelenskyy also reported damage to Russian warplanes and helicopters in a strike on a military base in the southern city of Rostov.
- Strikes were recorded at 36 locations, while debris from intercepted targets fell at five sites.
- Indonesia regularly battles wildfires during the dry season, which typically runs from July to October.
- The Indonesian government has said more than 202,000 hectares of land burned countrywide between January and July.
Sources
- Kyiv Postlink