Russia Repels Massive Ukrainian Drone Attack Overnight: Defence Ministry

MOSCOW: The Russian air defence has intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions over the past night, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. UAVs were shot down over more than a dozen Russian regions, according to a statement issued by the Ministry on Sunday morning.

Nine of the downed drones targeted Moscow and the Moscow region, the statement said, adding that 46 drones were destroyed over the Kursk region, 34 over Bryansk, 28 over Voronezh, and 14 over Belgorod. Several more were shot down over nine other Russian regions. The drones shot down have resulted in a fire in a Moscow refinery and at a power plant in the Tver region neighbouring Moscow, local officials said as reported by Xinhua news agency. The authorities further said the fire in both regions had been contained, and no injuries were reported.

Moscow was also the target of an attack, with seven drones shot down over the Moscow region and two more above the capital itself, the statement added as reported by RT. According to the Ministry, eight UAVs were destroyed in the Ryazan region, five in the Kaluga region, four in the Lipetsk region, and three in the Tula region.

One or two drones were also shot down above the Tambov, Smolensk, Orel, Tver, and Ivanovo regions, it added. Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that at least 11 drones were destroyed near or inside the capital during the Ukrainian raid. Two UAVs were shot down in the vicinity of the Moscow Oil Refinery in the southeast of the city, he said.

One of the unmanned aircraft crashed into an engineering building, the mayor noted, adding that the firefighters were extinguishing the blaze. Three UAVs also targeted the Kashira State District Power Plant, according to the Moscow region's Kashira city district chief, Mikhail Shuvalov. There were no casualties or damage, he added.

Kyiv intensified its plane-type drone incursions into Russia in January, mainly targeting energy infrastructure, but also hitting residential areas. Moscow responded by adding Ukrainian power plants to its list of legitimate military targets. Most of Ukraine's non-nuclear generation capacity has been disabled or destroyed by Russian strikes since then.

A major Ukrainian UAV attack on Russian territory took place in mid-August and saw 117 UAVs destroyed by air defences. Another raid, just over a week ago, involved 45 drones, with 11 of them targeting Moscow, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.