Kiev: Russia has targeted Zaporizhzhia with explosive-packed ‘Kamikaze drones’ for the first time, a media report said.
The regional Governor, Oleksandr Starukh, said Iran-made Shahed-136 drones damaged two infrastructure facilities in the city, The Guardian reported.
He said other missiles also struck the city again, injuring one person.
With its army losing ground to Ukraine’s counteroffensive, Moscow has started to deploy drones to attack Ukrainian targets, The Guardian reported.
According to Ukrainian military officials, Kamikaze drones are cheaper and less sophisticated than missiles but have proved effective at causing damage to targets on the ground. The Shahed-136 drones are able to remain airborne for several hours and circle over potential targets before being flown into enemy troops, armour or buildings and exploding on impact.
On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani denied supplying the drones to Russia, calling the claims “baseless”. However, the Ukrainian military said its forces had shot down more than 20 drones over the last 24 hours and that most were Iranian-made, The Guardian reported.
On Wednesday, Russia allegedly deployed another six drones to bombard Bila Tserkva, a city about 90 km from Kiev, injuring one person, according to the regional governor.
Kiev says Moscow started using Iranian drones in September, targeting electrical power stations, electricity transmission lines and waterworks with long-range weaponry.
According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, the Iranian drones are unlikely to significantly affect the course of the war.
“They have used many drones against civilian targets in rear areas, likely hoping to generate non-linear effects through terror. Such efforts are not succeeding,” wrote analysts at the think-tank, The Guardian reported.
(IANS)
