Russian invaders again attack Odesa with kamikaze drones
Odesa was again attacked by kamikaze drones (Photo:Dumska)
Invading Russian forces attacked the southern city of Odesa with kamikaze drones early on Sept. 25, Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne has reported.
According to Suspilne, a series of explosions rocked Odesa at about 6 a.m. during an air raid alert. People could see the drone and hear the sounds of their engines in the sky.
A pillar of smoke rose into the sky after that, as evidenced by the photo published by the local news outlet Dumskaya.
Later the South Operational Command officially confirmed that Odesa had been attacked by enemy kamikaze drones.
It is noted the Russians hit an administrative building in the city center three times. One drone was shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.
Fire and rescue teams are working at the scene to extinguish the fire. Fortunately, there were no casualties as a result of the incident.
The speaker of Odesa Regional Military Administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, said the attack could have been launched by Iranian-made Shahed drones, which Russia had recently purchased from Iran.
Later the speaker of the South Operational Command, Vladyslav Nazarov, posted photos of the wreckage of the Iranian drones.
This is not the first attack of kamikaze drones on Odesa. The Russians attacked Odesa with kamikaze drones from the sea on Sept. 23, resulting in one civilian was killed. One enemy drone was shot down by air defense forces over the sea.
Shahed drones are in service with the Russians: what is known about Russia’s purchase of Iranian drones
The media reported in late August, citing representatives of Western intelligence, that Russia had obtained hundreds of Iranian combat drones.
According to CNN, Russia has officially purchased and transferred the Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series drones – the Shahed-129 and Shahed-191.
On Aug. 31, the White House officially confirmed the information about Russia’s purchase of Iranian drones. In early September, the United States imposed sanctions on an Iranian company it accused of coordinating military flights to transport Iranian drones to Russia and three other companies it said were involved in the production of Iranian drones.
Tehran has vigorously denied it was providing Moscow with any kind of military assistance.
Ukrainian forces first shot down an Iranian Shahed-136 loitering munition in the town of Kupyansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on Sept. 13.
Shared-136 drones were later used to attack Odesa and Dnipro, with six of them getting shot down on Sept. 23.
Ukraine has recently withdrawn the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador and imposed a significant reduction on the staff of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv, over Iran supplying Russia with drones to use in the war in Ukraine.
The first reports that Iran might supply Russia with kamikaze drones appeared over a month ago. Ukraine has since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion over seven months ago been pleading with its allies to provide it with adequate numbers of modern air defense systems.
However, only a small number of such systems have as yet been provided.
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