Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine sank a Russian submarine and struck a Russian airfield in the past 24 hours, part of a series of long-range attacks on Russian targets, officials said. Russia also said Ukrainian drones struck an apartment building, killing one person.
The surge in attacks since July comes as Ukraine has stepped up pressure on its allies to allow it to use long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia. Western allies, particularly the United States, have so far resisted, fearing an escalation by Moscow.
Ukraine has struck a Russian Kilo-class submarine and an S-400 anti-aircraft missile system in the Moscow-occupied Crimean Peninsula, the General Staff said in a statement Saturday. The air defense system was deployed to protect the Kerch Strait Bridge, a major logistics and transport hub supplying Russian forces.
Missile forces units, as well as the Navy, damaged four launchers of the Triumph air defense system, while in the port of Sevastopol, the “Rostov-on-Don” – a submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet – was attacked and sunk, the statement said.
The General Staff also confirmed that Ukrainian forces struck the Morozovsk airfield in the Rostov region after launching a massive drone attack against Russia. Strikes were recorded on ammunition depots, where guided aerial bombs were stored. The operation was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine, the Main Intelligence Directorate and the Defense Ministry, the statement said.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a woman was killed Sunday morning by a Ukrainian drone strike on a residential building in the town of Shebekino. Ukrainian drones also damaged several other buildings in the city, he added.
Gladkov said eight civilians had been injured in the region by Ukrainian shelling and dozens of drone strikes since the previous day.
Over the past month, Russia has seen an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes and long-range attacks targeting Russian military infrastructure, including airfields and oil depots. Analysts say such an increase is necessary if Ukraine wants to weaken Russian capabilities.
In other developments:
— Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations to investigate a photo showing the body of a Ukrainian prisoner of war tortured and executed by Russian forces. He also asked Ukrainian authorities to verify the victim’s identity.
The photo, which is circulating on social media, shows the body of a person without a head or limbs. The Associated Press has not been able to verify it.
“This is not just a violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, it is the behavior of monsters,” Lubinets said in a statement on Telegram.
