KYIV — Ukraine's air defenses fended off another large-scale Russian attack with combat drones overnight, the military said on Sunday, while the Kremlin appointed a new head of the navy.
In Ukraine, all but four of the 39 approaching drones were apparently intercepted and destroyed. There were reportedly no casualties.
"I would like to thank everyone who achieved this result," Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday morning.
The past week saw almost nightly attacks with dozens of drones by one or both sides.
According to Ukraine's military, an enemy drone hit an industrial building in the southern Odessa region in the latest assault. Another damaged a power line in the neighboring Mykolaiv region.
The Iranian-made Shahed drones were launched from the Russian coast of the Sea of Azov and from the Crimean peninsula. Russia also reportedly fired four converted S-300 anti-aircraft missiles at ground targets in the eastern Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.
A simultaneous night-time attack by Ukraine resulted in a drone hitting a fuel depot in the Russian border region of Kursk and catching fire, the local governor Roman Starovoit wrote on Telegram. The fire brigade was dealing with the incident, he said.
In addition to heavy ground fighting in the east and south of Ukraine, both sides have increased their use of explosive-laden drones since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than two years ago.
Ukrainian drones have increasingly targeted supply facilities supporting the Russian military operations.
Separately, the Russian newspaper Izvestia, citing unnamed sources, reported on Sunday that the commander of the Russian navy, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, has been retired.
Yevmenov has been replaced by Admiral Alexander Moiseyev, the previous commander of the Northern Fleet, the report said. The website of the Russian Ministry of Defence did not initially provide any information on this.
Izvestia did not provide a reason for the personnel change.
Yevmenov's departure comes after the Russian Black Sea Fleet recently suffered considerable losses of combat ships and soldiers due to attacks by Ukrainian missiles and so-called naval drones - unmanned boats loaded with explosives.
Due to the threat posed by the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian naval combat units have largely withdrawn from the occupied Crimea peninsula.
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