UPDATED: Ukraine says Russian drones downed over Kyiv, Odesa university campus hit

May 4 (Reuters) – Russia fired two dozen combat drones at Ukraine early on Thursday, striking a university campus in the Black Sea city of Odesa and attacking the capital Kyiv for the third time in four days.

Russia has stepped up attacks as Ukraine prepares for a counteroffensive to try to retake Russian-occupied land in the south and east. Russian shelling in the frontline southern region of Kherson killed at least 23 civilians on Wednesday.

Air Force Colonel Yuriy Ihnat said Russia’s military was using “kamikaze” drones, which fly towards their target before blowing up, to weaken Ukrainian air defences.

“They know the (drones) will be destroyed, we are currently destroying 80%, that’s how they are exhausting our air defence so much, forcing them to expose their positions,” he said on television.

No casualties were reported in the overnight strikes.

In Kyiv, the city administration said that missiles, probably ballistic missiles, had also been used in the attack but were shot down along with all the drones over the capital.

Ballistic missiles are difficult to shoot down, and their downing could indicate Ukraine used sophisticated Western-supplied air defence systems against them.

Kyiv authorities said “enemy aerial objects” had been downed over three districts in the capital’s centre and that debris had fallen around 10 buildings.

“As a result of the falling debris, parked cars … and the road’s surface were partially damaged,” said Serhiy Popko, head of the city’s military administration.

In total, air defences shot down 18 of 24 “kamikaze” drones in the pre-dawn attack, officials said. Of 15 drones fired at Odesa, 12 were downed but three struck a university campus, the southern military command said.

Shelling in the Donetsk region damaged a power station owned by electricity company DTEK Energo, but no casualties were reported, DTEK and the Energy Ministry said.

Fire extinguished at Russian oil refinery after drone attack

A drone attack set ablaze parts of an oil products reservoir at a refinery in southern Russia, but emergency services said they extinguished the fire just over two hours later, TASS news agency reported early on Thursday.

TASS said the incident occurred at the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region.

A day earlier, a fuel depot further to the west caught on fire near a bridge linking Russia’s mainland with the occupied Crimea peninsula.

“A second turbulent night for our emergency services,” Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram, adding that tanks with oil products were on fire at the Ilsky refinery.

There were no casualties, he said, citing preliminary reports and he did not say how the fire started.

Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for what Moscow says are frequent drone strikes against infrastructure and military targets, particularly in regions close to Russia.

Moscow blamed Ukraine for an attack on April 29 that set fire to an oil depot in Sevastopol. Kyiv’s military says undermining Russia’s logistics is part of preparations for a long-expected counteroffensive.

Photo: A handout photo made available by the Krasnodar region Governor’s press service shows a tank with oil products on fire at the compound of the JSC Tamanneftegaz in the Volna settlement, Taman peninsula, Krasnodar region, Russia,. EPA-EFE/RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE