German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius paid a visit to Kiev on Tuesday in a show of support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian offensive, which began three years ago.
German officials said the visit was aimed at reassuring Ukraine of continued support. Minister Pistorius will meet with senior Ukrainian officials.
He visits Ukraine just days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump and amid questions about how United States policy towards Ukraine might change under the new administration.
Officials from several regions of Russia reported multiple Ukrainian drone strikes on Tuesday, including the Saratov region, where Governor Roman Busargin said two industrial complexes in the cities of Saratov and Engels suffered damage.
This area is home to a Russian bomber base. Last week, Ukraine attacked a fuel depot that supplies the base.
The governor of the Oryol region, Andrei Klychkov, wrote on the Telegram platform that Russian air defense systems shot down 17 Ukrainian drones in his region. He did not report any damage or casualties from these attacks.
Rostov region governor Yury Slyusar said 14 drones had been destroyed overnight, while officials in Voronezh announced that several Ukrainian drones had been shot down without causing damage.
The Russian Defense Ministry also announced that it had shot down six American ATACMS missiles and six British Storm Shadow missiles in the Bryansk region, as well as two more in the Black Sea. According to the ministry, there were no casualties or damage.
The Ukrainian military announced on Tuesday that it had destroyed 58 of the 80 drones that Russian forces used in attacks on 11 different regions.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported damage to residential buildings, businesses and vehicles in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kiev, Sumy and Zhytomyr from debris from downed drones.
Ukrainian air defense systems also destroyed Russian drones in Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odessa and Poltava, according to the Ukrainian air force. VOA (A2 Televizion)
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