Ukraine war: Ukrainian air defences shoot down 15 of 18 Russian missiles launched

Ukrainian air defences early Monday (May 1) shot down 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russian forces as Moscow intensifies its offensive. Taking to Telegram, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, said, "Around 2:30 am (1130 GMT), the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine from strategic aviation planes," the news agency Reuters reported.

Kyiv's city officials, meanwhile, said that all missiles directed at the capital city were destroyed in what they said was the second attack on the city in three days. The city administration posted on Telegram that there were no casualties among the civilian population and no destruction of residential facilities or infrastructure.

Air defence systems were also called into action to shield the Kyiv region.

Russia also launched missiles at other Ukrainian regions overnight, including on Dnipropetrovsk and Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the Dnipro region council, said. Air defence crews shot down seven missiles, while 25 people needed medical help. The eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad was struck twice overnight, Reuters reported.

Monday's missile strikes come after a Ukrainian strike on a Russian border village of Suzemka killed four people and injured two others on Saturday. According to local governor Alexander Bogomaz, the Ukrainian shelling hit Suzemka twice overnight and Russian air defence had "shot down several shells."

Bogomaz said that one shell hit a residential house sparking a fire and that two more houses were damaged, adding the village declared a state of emergency.

"Work is continuing on the removal of rubble. In the areas where operational measures have been completed, a damage assessment commission has begun working," the local governor said.

Ukraine in nearly two months, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowing a response.

And a day later, authorities said a huge fire broke out at a fuel depot in Crimea's Sevastopol after a drone strike.

At present, most of the fighting in Ukraine is in the east and southern regions. The Ukrainian government said on Sunday that its forces were holding onto parts of Bakhmut and Russia was unable to take control of the city.

"Fierce fighting continues in the city of Bakhmut. The enemy is unable to take control over the city, despite throwing all its forces into the battle and having some success," Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram.

"The defence of Bakhmut is coping with its military tasks," Malyar.

Her remarks come after Russia's Defence Ministry said that its forces had taken four blocks in western Bakhmut, but this claim could not be verified, Reuters reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

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