At least 21 people have died in Ukraine after Russia launched another major barrage against the country early Tuesday.
Six people died in Kyiv and 15 more in Dnipro, Ukrainian authorities said. Two of them were children.
CNN noted that in Kyiv alone 41,000 took shelter in underground stations, the highest number in years.
Ukrainian officials said over 600 drones and dozens of missiles were launched by Moscow, hitting key civilian infrastructure. Five medical facilities and other buildings were damaged or destroyed. President Volodymyr Zelensky asked for more help from the U.S. government following the attacks.
Russia has intensified aerial bombardments in recent months as the war continues into its fourth year. At the same time, Ukraine has increased long-range drone operations targeting military sites, fuel depots, and industrial facilities inside Russian territory and occupied Crimea.
The conflict has increasingly become defined by drone warfare and attritional fighting along heavily fortified front lines. According to The New York Times, both Ukraine and Russia have sharply expanded domestic drone production as low-cost unmanned systems play a growing role in reconnaissance and battlefield strikes.
In this context, a recent report claimed that Senior Russian officials warned President Vladimir Putin that spending on the war is unaffordable at the current pace.
Bloomberg claimed the development is the most serious sign of internal division in Moscow since the war began in 2022. Officials in the Finance Ministry and the central bank told the Kremlin that the current pace risks widening the deficit significantly.
Ukrainian Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky also told Reuters recently that Russian forces had sustained significant losses and are no longer able of achieving major breakthroughs.
Ukraine, he added, has continued adapting its battlefield tactics, particularly through expanded use of drones and precision strikes. If the country manages to build and sustain momentum, he claimed, its forces will be able to prevent Russia from seizing the last part of the Donetsk region it does not fully occupy. "I believe the next six to nine months are a turning point," he said.
"We need to define those directions where we can improve our positions, take some strategic points, and then speak with the Russians from a position of strength - not weakness - about a truly stable truce," Biletsky added.
Originally published on IBTimes
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