Ukraine Downs 28 Shahed Drones Launched by Russia Overnight—Kyiv

Russia launched a fresh drone attack against Ukraine overnight, Kyiv said on Tuesday as it stepped up its counteroffensive to recapture its occupied territories.

Moscow's forces launched 30 Iranian-made Shahed drones at Ukrainian targets overnight, but 28 of them were destroyed by Ukrainian air defense systems, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on its Facebook page.

Russian forces have frequently used Shahed drones, also known as "kamikaze" or suicide drones, throughout the war launched by President Vladimir Putin in February last year.

Andriy Sadovyi, mayor of Lviv, a city in the far west of Ukraine, said a drone struck critical infrastructure there, but that there were no injuries.

Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv city military administration, some some "two dozen" drones were downed over the capital overnight.

Russia's renewed Ukraine-wide aerial onslaught comes as Kyiv presses on with its counteroffensive to retake its occupied territory. Ukraine launched its long anticipated counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory in early June.

Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday morning that Ukraine's armed forces has so far retaken eight settlements.

Maliar said Ukraine has liberated the settlements of Novodarovka, Levadne, Storozheve, Makarivka, Blagodatne, Lobkove, Neskuchne and Piatykhatky. She also said that over the past two weeks, Ukraine's military has advanced seven kilometers (four miles) to the south, recapturing 113 square kilometers (44 square miles) of its territory. This couldn't immediately be verified by Newsweek.

In an evening video address on Monday, Zelensky said Ukraine hasn't lost any positions in the counteroffensive so far.

"We have no lost positions. Only liberated ones. [Russia has] only losses. And in general, it is a situation of pressure, our pressure, which makes it possible to pave the way for our flag," Zelensky said.

"And the evil state has no such fortifications or reserves that will stop Ukraine. Because we are on our own land, and this gives us the greatest strength," he added.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said Tuesday its troops were having success with a push in the direction of Melitopol and Berdyansk.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank, said Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in at least three sectors of the frontline and made gains on Monday.

Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported that Moscow's forces repelled attacks by Ukrainian troops in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment via email.

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