Kremlin says Russian strikes aim to diminish Ukraine’s ‘offensive potential’

Speaking to journalists, Peskov said Russia’s “systematic and massive” strikes in response to Ukrainian attacks were continuing.

“Some final signs of agony are being observed. The Kyiv regime is putting up resistance. But this cannot change the course of events,” he said.

His remarks came after a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack targeted oil facilities and an Ozon logistics center in St. Petersburg, as well as the data center of Russian social media company VK in the Leningrad region, according to Russian authorities.

The attacks killed one person and injured nine others in Russia, they added, while the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that air defenses destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian territory, the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the Black Sea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of launching strikes against residential buildings across the country, killing two people and injuring 12 others. He also said Russia hit substations in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, and Odesa regions, leaving “tens of thousands” of families without power.