Russia launched airstrikes on several military and industrial targets in Ukraine, successfully disrupting the flow of weapons and ammunition from other countries into Ukraine as Russia's invasion continues, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Saturday.
The airstrikes also succeeded in halting Ukraine's own facilities' production and repairing of different weapons, ammunition and military equipment, Russia claims.
Russia also said that their airstrike succeeded in destroying four Ukrainian S-300 air defense system radar stations in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Russia's airstrike bombardments in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine
Russia has been launching a series of aerial bombardments on Ukraine as its invasion continues to drag on. Since the war began on February 24, Russia has seen slow progress, making a few gains in the East and South. However, many of these were undone following Ukraine's counteroffensive in the Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts.
Recently, however, Russia has intensified its airstrikes on Ukraine, which have been noted to have struck numerous cities and civilian infrastructure throughout the country. This has led to water shortages, power outages and loss of heat. The latter is particularly significant, as it deprives the eastern European country of much-needed warmth as the harsh sub-zero temperatures of the Ukrainian winter begin to set in.
These airstrikes have also seen Russia face widespread condemnation from the international community as a result, as they are seen by many to constitute war crimes.
The Geneva conventions and additional protocols shaped by international courts say that parties involved in a military conflict must distinguish between "civilian objects and military objectives" and that attacks on civilian objects are forbidden.
This prohibition is also codified in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which earlier this year opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia, for its part, continues to maintain that it only attacks legitimate military targets, rather than any civilian infrastructure. Moscow does acknowledge that there has been damage to civilian infrastructure, but says that this is due to the "unprofessional actions of Ukrainian air defense units."
Updates on the Russia-Ukraine War
The conflict on the ground continues to grind on, with both sides reporting differing accounts and casualty figures.
Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kirylenko on Sunday reported that a Ukrainian civilian in Donetsk was killed by Russian forces while another was wounded, Pravda reported.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko further reported that the Nikopol Raion was hit by Russian artillery shelling five times overnight, damaging residences and injuring a civilian, according to Ukrainian media.
Russia claims that it has seen success battling Ukrainian forces on several fronts, taking out around 40 soldiers and 11 vehicles in the Kharkiv Oblast. Another 30 Ukrainian reserve soldiers were reportedly killed or wounded in a Russian preemptive strike in the Donetsk Oblast, with two armored vehicles and two pickup trucks taken out. Over 30 Ukrainian soldiers were also reportedly taken out near Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast in a Russian offensive. A location temporarily housing "foreign mercenaries," a term Russia uses to refer to foreigners volunteering to fight for Ukraine against Russia, was also reportedly struck in the Donetsk Oblast.
As has been the case throughout the war, figures on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides are impossible to verify.
Reuters contributed to this report.