During the fighting in eastern Ukraine, the so-called Turkish Bayraktar drones have been an important weapon for the Ukrainian forces. But there has been a shortage of drones. The Russian air defense has strengthened its capacity in the Donbass region and become better at shooting down drones, according to the think tank Institute for the Study of War.
ISW states that Ukraine has been forced to reduce the number of air operations in the area by 20 to 30 per day. At the same time, Ukraine has continued success with drones further west, as in Kherson.
On Wednesday, Ukraine will also be according to tasks to Reuters have attacked an oil refinery in the Russian region of Rostov, a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine, in two drone attacks, according to staff at the refinery. A fire broke out but no people were injured.
Russia, for its part is said to have attacked the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv with robots. On Wednesday reported Reuters that several missiles killed at least one person and destroyed several buildings. On Thursday reported The Guardian, referring to the Ukrainian army, about three more cruise missiles that should have hit the city and at least one person should have been injured. Ukrainian forces are also said to have shot down two missiles en route to Odessa.
In a statement, it claims Russian Ministry of Defense that at least 650 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the last 24 hours and that almost 50 Ukrainian depots were destroyed with fuel and as many rocket artillery vehicles.
The battles around the cities Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine is still tough and the situation strained for the Ukrainian troops. On Thursday Luhansk Governor Sergei Hajdaj said that Ukrainian troops may need to withdraw from their line of defense in order not to be surrounded by Russian troops.