Two volunteers have reportedly been killed in eastern Ukraine as Russian shelling hit a van carrying a team of four working with a Ukrainian NGO, while dozens of Russian drones targeted Kyiv and wounded at least one civilian.
The four volunteers from the Road to Relief NGO, which helps evacuate wounded people from front-line areas, were trapped inside the van as it flipped over and caught fire after being struck by shells near the town of Chasiv Yar, the organisation said on its Instagram page.
Road to Relief said Canadian Anthony Ihnat died in the attack, while German medical volunteer Ruben Mawick and Swedish volunteer Johan Mathias Thyr were seriously injured.
Road to Relief added that it could not trace the whereabouts of the van’s fourth passenger, Emma Igual, a Spanish national who was the organisation’s director. Hours later, Spain’s Acting Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told Spanish media that authorities in Madrid had received “verbal confirmation” of the 32-year-old Igual’s death.
The volunteers were on their way to assess the needs of civilians on the outskirts of Bakhmut, Road to Relief said, in reference to the eastern town that saw the war’s longest and bloodiest battle before falling to Moscow in May. Ukrainian forces have held onto Bakhmut’s western suburbs and are pushing a counteroffensive in the area.
Ukraine foils significant Russian drone attack – Kyiv
Russian forces launched 32 explosive drones on Ukraine, mostly in the Kiev region, during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
The Ukrainian army made the claims and say they managed to shoot down 25 of them.
“Last night, the occupiers attacked Ukraine with 32 Shahed-136/131 type kamikaze drones, 25 of which were destroyed by the Ukrainian air defence forces. The Russian occupiers directed most of the attack drones towards the Kiev region”, the Kyiv military administration announced.
They say an apartment was damaged by falling debris, as were cars and trolleybus cables. One person was injured but his life is not in danger, according to a memo on Telegram.
According to Sergiy Popko, head of the capital’s military administration, debris from downed drones fell on the Sviatoshynskyi, Podilskyi and Shevchenkivs’kyi districts.
Debris fell on a residential building in the Shevchenkivs’kyi district, in central Kiev, without causing any casualties but causing a fire which was put out by the owners, Popko said on Telegram.
In the Sviatoshynskyi district, located in the west of the capital, debris caused a fire in Sovky Park, one of the city’s best-known public gardens, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko claimed.
In the Podilskyi district in central Kiev, debris fell on an open space and doctors who arrived on the scene treated a person suffering from an attack of “acute stress”, according to Klitschko.
Russia claims it destroyed three Ukrainian speedboats in the Black Sea
Russia claimed on Sunday to have destroyed three fast military launches with Ukrainian soldiers on board in the Black Sea, which the Russian army said were heading towards annexed Crimea.
Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, “in the western part of the Black Sea, (…) the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed three American-made + Willard Sea Force + military fast boats (carrying) landing groups of the Ukrainian armed forces,” the Russian Defence Ministry said on Telegram.
in Russia’s Pskov Oblast, close to the Estonian border, the governor has organised volunteer security patrols to interdict further uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against Kresty air base.
Moscow sets up volunteer security patrols near Estonian border
In Russia’s Pskov Oblast, close to the Estonian border, the governor has organised volunteer security patrols to interdict further uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against Kresty air base.
Reportedly up to 800 citizens have signed up to join the patrols. This initiative follows the reported damage of two IL-76 CANDID transport aircraft on 29 August 2023.
Due to the limited range of quadcopter UAVs, the attacks on the base were almost certainly launched from within the Russian Federation.
The patrols will consist of groups of 50 divided among multiple municipalities which will patrol border areas and critical infrastructure, particularly airports and air bases.
The creation of these volunteer security patrols will likely act as a deterrence and provide a level of defence against quadcopter UAVs being operated from the immediate vicinity of the air base.
Historically it has proven difficult to destroy UAVs using small-arms fire, so Russian forces will still require air-defence systems, with a surveillance capability and both kinetic and electronic means of interception, to destroy attacking UAVs.
The use of volunteers highly likely indicates a shortage of trained security personnel within Russia.
Source : Euro News
