The Ukrainian capital Kiev last night again became the target of massive Russian drone attacks, local authorities reported, quoted by DPA and BTA.
According to information from the Ukrainian Air Force and the regional military administration, the air defense of the Ukrainian capital has been activated. The air raid alert had already been activated earlier after swarms of drones were detected.
There is currently no information about damage or casualties.
In addition to Kiev, an air raid alert was also declared in several other regions of Ukraine, including Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its air defense systems had destroyed 24 Ukrainian drones over the Voronezh and Belgorod regions within two hours, TASS reported.
„From 22:00 Moscow time (coincides with Bulgarian – ed.) on June 8 until 00:00 Moscow time on June 9, air defense systems on duty destroyed 24 Ukrainian drones: 17 over the territory of the Voronezh region and seven over the territory of the Belgorod region,“ the ministry said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said last night that Russian troops had entered Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, which the Ukrainian General Staff in Kiev immediately declared false, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The claims of both sides cannot be verified by independent sources, the agency said.
The Russian ministry said that units of its 90th Tank Division had reached the western border of the Donetsk region and "are continuing their offensive on the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region".
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian National Security Council, also repeated this claim. "Our armed forces have launched an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region", he wrote on "Telegram".
But the Ukrainian General Staff in Kiev said that Moscow's claims were false. "The information does not correspond to the facts", a General Staff representative told Ukrainian media. "The enemy did not enter the Dnipropetrovsk region".
Back in May, Kremlin-linked bloggers reported that Russian troops had reached the administrative border of the Dnipropetrovsk region, DPA recalls.
However, the military governor of the region, Serhiy Lysak, dismissed this as fake news. The enemy is spreading such false messages "to intimidate people in our area, spread panic and destabilize the situation," he said in May.
However, independent military experts warn that a Russian invasion of the region is possible. According to them, this would have more propaganda and psychological value for Moscow.