Russia launches massive strike at Ukraine for 2nd day

Russia attacked Ukraine with 81 Shahed combat drones and 10 cruise and ballistic missiles overnight Tuesday in the second attack in two days, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement, reported Xinhua.

The air defense downed 60 drones and five cruise missiles over 16 regions, it said. One drone crossed the border with Belarus, while 10 other detected drones were lost.

As of 9 a.m. local time (GMT 0600), 10 combat drones remained in the Ukrainian airspace.

The attack claimed the lives of two people and injured five others in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, where the strike hit a hotel, the Interior Ministry said.

In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a man and a woman were killed and four people were wounded, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.

Two infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern Kharkiv region, leaving a 41-year-old man dead and five others injured, said the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration.

About 15 drones and several Kh-101 missiles targeted the Ukrainian capital, but all air targets were intercepted, said the Kiev City Military Administration.

On Monday, Russia launched 127 missiles and 109 combat drones at Ukraine in the largest attack since the start of the conflict. Seven people were killed and 47 others were injured in the attack, according to Ukraine's State Service for Emergencies.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have seized 100 settlements in Russia since they broke into bordering Russia's Kursk region on Aug. 6, Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said Tuesday.

"We continue to advance forward, inflicting significant losses on the Russian troops in manpower and equipment," Syrsky was cited as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

According to Syrsky, Russia has redeployed about 30,000 troops from other areas to the Kursk region and is now trying to form "a defensive ring" around the Ukrainian forces.

Meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday that its Akhmat special forces have carried out a reconnaissance operation, securing a commanding height in the Sudzha district in the Kursk region, previously held by Ukraine.

The height was located 400-500 meters away from Ukrainian forward positions. The Russian troops can now monitor Ukrainian military movements, TASS reported citing a source at the scene.