Ukrainian officials said early Tuesday that a new Russian air strike on Kyiv had been repelled and that air defense systems had shot down more than 20 cruise missiles as they approached the capital.

“All [σ.σ. οι ρωσικοί πύραυλοι] were shot down, there were no hits,” the head of the Kyiv military administration, Serhiy Popko, said on Telegram.

This claim cannot be verified independently.

Reuters reporters heard explosions as the city was on alert for more than four hours after sirens sounded after midnight.

The explosions occurred due to the fact that the Ukrainian air defense repelled the attack of Russian aircraft, said the mayor of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, in Telegram.

The wreckage damaged roads and trolleybuses in the Desnyansky district, the city’s military administration reports. This area on the left bank of the Dnieper is the most densely populated in Kyiv.

According to preliminary information, there were no casualties.

The Ukrainian authorities have recently generally claimed that they shoot down the majority of Russian kamikaze missiles and UAVs.

Reflection of the Ukrainian attack

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported early this morning that its forces had repulsed a new large-scale raid by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donetsk region, inflicting heavy casualties on them and destroying eight Leopard heavy tanks.

“Having suffered heavy losses the day before, the Kiev regime reorganized the remnants of the 23rd and 31st motorized rifle brigades into separate reorganized units, which continued offensive operations,” the ministry said in a statement.

“They were hit by complex fire from the forces of the (Russian) army, aviation, missile forces and artillery, as well as heavy flamethrowers,” he added.

On Monday, Moscow said Ukrainian forces had launched a wide-ranging offensive in the Donetsk region, although it is not yet clear if this was their much-discussed counter-offensive.

Ukrainian officials did not comment on the situation in Donetsk and evaded questions about it on Monday. In a propaganda video circulated on Sunday demanding silence on the army’s actions, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said there would be “no announcement of the start” of the counterattack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces destroyed 28 tanks, including 8 Leopards sent to Kyiv by its Western allies, as well as 109 armored fighting vehicles (AFVs). He calculated Ukrainian casualties at 10,500 troops, without specifying whether that number only referred to the dead or wounded. Kyiv has not yet commented on Moscow’s claims.

Both sides in the 16-month war often say that they inflicted heavy losses on each other, which cannot be independently verified.

Source: RES-IPE