KYIV, Ukraine, Jan 31, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - At least two civilians have died in

the latest exchange of overnight aerial attacks between Russia and Ukraine,
officials on both sides said on Wednesday.

Ukraine has been under persistent aerial bombardment by Russian forces for
nearly two years and has appealed to allies in the West to bolster its
defensive systems.

In recent months, it has upped drone attacks against Russian territory,
mainly targeting border regions, but also the capital Moscow and the northern
city of Saint Petersburg.

The pro-Russia mayor of the town of Gorlivka in Donetsk, one of the Ukrainian
regions that Russia claims to have annexed, said that two civilians died and
one was wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack.

"Because of a Ukrainian armed forces drone strike along the route between
Gorlivka and Donetsk two civilians died and one person was wounded," Ivan
Prikhodko wrote on the Telegram social media platform.

A Ukrainian drone was also destroyed by Russian air defence systems over the
Pskov region, Russia's defence ministry said in a statement posted on its
website.

Ukraine for its part said that Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 20 drones
and three missiles overnight, and that air defence systems downed more than
one dozen of the unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 20 Iranian-designed attack
drones at Ukraine as well as three ballistic missiles.

It added that air defence systems, mainly in southern and eastern regions
along the front, had downed the drones. It made no mention of the missiles.

Authorities in the eastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia said a supermarket
and residential homes were damaged in the attack that left three injured.

One person was also injured in the southern Mykolaiv region, officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that it was a priority for Ukraine to
regain control of its airspace this year to make progress on the front.