A Russian drone strike hits a ferry border crossing between Ukraine and Romania. American-made Abrams tanks can be efficient on the battlefield, the U.S. says. Russia hits a Ukrainian missile production facility, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council says.
Russian drone strike hits ferry border crossing between Ukraine and Romania
Overnight on September 26, Russia hit Ukrainian port infrastructure in Odesa region, damaging a building at a border crossing, storage facilities and more than 30 trucks. Two drivers were injured, and six trucks were destroyed by fire.
The drone attack caused the closure of the Orlivka-Isaccea border crossing point between Ukraine and Romania. The Ukrainian side of the ferry border crossing is in Reni district in Odesa region.
Founder of the ferry terminal Yuriy Dimchoglo told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: “[The attack] damaged civilian infrastructure at the border crossing and around 30 international civilian trucks. Six of them burned down. Storage facilities were slightly damaged, but they were not directly hit.”
“The areas that were most heavily hit are the customs area and the area where international vehicles wait for customs clearance, especially on entry to Ukraine,” Dimchoglo said.
He said the drone attack happened at around 2 a.m. The administrative building at the border crossing was not affected, but the blast wave shattered windows. They will need to replace 80 per cent of the windows, he said.
The attack began 10-15 minutes after an air raid alert was declared, Dimchoglo said. Border guards responded quickly and moved civilian vehicles out of the border crossing.
“There were two buses, one entering, and one exiting Ukraine. The one on the way to exit, was carrying children. It was quickly checked and loaded on a Romanian ferry that was about to sail off as the strikes began. Thank God the bus with children was not at the border crossing [when the strike happened]. I don’t know what would have happened then,” Dimchoglo said.
The second bus was checked within 10 minutes. The strikes began as it was leaving. Bus windows cracked. Only the drivers were injured. The ferry is an “entirely civilian facility”, and no service members, except for border guards, serve there, he added.
Abrams tanks can be efficient on battlefield, U.S. says
American-made Abrams tanks arriving in Ukraine, can be efficient on the battlefield, U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told Bloomberg. Fighting rages on a lot of open ground, he said, as the Ukrainians are navigating through significant amount of minefields that the Russians have laid.
“The Abrams tanks are heavily armored and will give Ukrainian troops a lot more mobility, a lot more speed, and a lot more fire power to break through some of the Russian defenses,” Kirby said.
The U.S. will provide Ukraine with 31 M1 Abrams tanks. Ukraine would receive the first 10 Abrams tanks in mid-September, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov earlier said. The package includes an unspecified number of depleted-uranium tank rounds for the 31 M1 Abrams tanks.
The officials, who spoke to The Messenger on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about ongoing operations, said that the White House and Pentagon are considering sending up to 30 additional M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Russia hits Ukrainian missile production facility, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council says
Russia earlier hit Ukraine’s production facilities where missiles were assembled, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov told Spain’s ABC newspaper. Part of the production has been moved outside Ukraine, he added.
Danilov refrained from further details on Ukrainian-made weapons, including missiles.
“This is a classified program, and no one will tell you where it stands. What I can say is that unfortunately, Russia has hit Ukraine’s production facilities where missiles were assembled. We’ve moved part of the production outside Ukraine,” he said.
On August 31, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said Ukraine had developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers away. He did not specify the target.
The Russian city of Pskov is approximately 700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry confirmed that four Russian IL-76 military cargo planes were destroyed in a drone attack on the Pskov airfield in Russia overnight on August 30.