Russian drones pound civilian areas as Ukraine claims battlefield breakthroughs

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s round-the-clock bombardment of targets in Ukraine killed at least three civilians and wounded 41 others, officials said Monday, while Ukraine’s army claimed more successes in a recent push on the front line.

The attacks followed a week of diplomatic efforts at the United Nations to get traction for negotiations on ending Moscow’s invasion that began 4½ years ago.

Battlefield positions have changed little since last year, in part because swarms of drones severely restrict troop movements, but Kyiv’s forces launched a recent offensive, codenamed Operation Vivaldi, on part of the 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line.

Ukraine’s Third Army Corps said Monday it had recaptured another 51 square kilometers (20 square miles) from the Russians, bringing the total to 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) since the offensive began several months ago.

The corps said that in order to break through Russian defenses, it converted Soviet-era BTR-60 armored personnel carriers into kamikaze vehicles that blew up the strongest Russian fortifications. The operation has also used ground robots to attack Russian positions.

The claimed breakthroughs came in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which the bigger Russian army has been trying in vain to conquer.

Russian officials made no immediate comment on the Ukrainian claim.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that Russian troops captured the villages of Novovodiane in the Donetsk region and Ulanove in the northern Sumy region.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims.

The ceaseless Russian drone attacks on cities and towns aim to wear down Ukraine’s resistance and cripple the Ukrainian economy.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck two data centers in Kyiv, as well as gas stations in the Ukrainian capital. A distribution hub belonging to Nova Poshta postal service was struck in the southern city of Odesa, it said.

The Russian military also hit a cargo ship in the Black Sea and another one in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, the ministry said. The strikes aim to curb Ukraine’s grain exports, though they may also create food shortages in countries that rely on Ukrainian imports.

The Russian aerial attacks regularly hit civilian areas. Moscow claims it targets only military-related sites.

Russian drone attacks on the Kyiv region killed three people and wounded eight, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration.

A Russian strike on a nine-story apartment building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv wounded 38 people, including 10 children, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Four people, including two teenage girls, were hurt when a Russian drone struck a residential area in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv region on Sunday evening, said Viacheslav Chaus, head of the regional military administration.

Ukrainian long-range drones have targeted fuel depots and industrial plants deep inside Russia that are a mainstay of Moscow’s economy and war effort.

Ukrainian drone attacks overnight started fires at three infrastructure facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar region, local emergency officials said Monday, without identifying the locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 254 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine