Strikes on multiple fronts, including the capital kyiv and the western province of Lviv, come hours after the ICC announcement.
Widespread Russian attacks have continued in Ukraine following the International Criminal Court decision. decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights.
The Ukrainian Air Force said in the early hours of Saturday that Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones on Friday night.
Writing on Telegram, the air force command said that 11 of the 16 drones were shot down “in the central, western and eastern regions.”
Among the areas attacked were the capital kyiv and the western province of Lviv.
Kiev city administration head Serhii Popko said Ukrainian air defenses shot down all the drones heading for the Ukrainian capital, while Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Saturday three of the six drones were shot down and the other three attacked a neighboring district. Poland.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the strikes were carried out from the eastern coast of the Azov Sea and the Russian province of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military added in its regular update on Saturday morning that Russian forces have, in the past 24 hours, launched 34 airstrikes, one missile attack and 57 rounds of anti-aircraft fire.
The Facebook update said falling debris hit the southern province of Kherson, damaging seven houses and a kindergarten.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, regional governor of the Donetsk province, said one person was killed and three wounded when 11 towns and villages in the province were shelled on Friday.
Further west, Russian rockets struck a residential area overnight on Friday in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital of the partially occupied province of the same name.
No casualties were reported, but houses were damaged and a dining establishment was destroyed, said Anatoliy Kurtev of the Zaporizhzhia City Council.
ICC order
The International Criminal Court said on Friday it had issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine, together with the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
It is the first time that the global court has issued a order against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
The move was immediately rejected by Moscow, and welcomed by Ukraine as a breakthrough.
However, its practical implications may be limited, as Putin’s chances of facing trial at the ICC are highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction or extradite its citizens.
UK military officials said on Saturday that Russia is likely to extend conscription. In its latest intelligence update, the UK Defense Ministry said deputies in the Russian Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, on Monday introduced a bill to change the conscription age for men from 21 to 30. years, from the current 18 to 27.
The ministry said that at the moment, many men between the ages of 18 and 21 are claiming exemption from military service because they are in higher education. The change would mean that eventually they would still have to serve. He said the law will likely be passed and take effect in January 2024.