Russian air defense systems repelled a Ukrainian drone attack in Kursk Region, which is home to a large nuclear power plant, and over the Black Sea near Crimea in the early hours of Monday, the Defense Ministry has reported.
“Today, at about 1:00am Moscow time, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by two aircraft-type UAVs on objects in the Russian Federation was thwarted,” the ministry said in a brief statement on Telegram on Monday.
One of the drones was “destroyed in the air over the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula,” and the other was shot down somewhere “over the territory of Kursk Region,” with no casualties or damage reported on the ground, according to the ministry.
While the military did not elaborate on where exactly the drones were intercepted, several witnesses reported hearing air defense fire in the city of Kurchatov.
The industrial hub near the Kursk Nuclear Power plant, was targeted multiple times last week. On Sunday, a Ukrainian drone sparked fire in a non-residential building in the city, according to the governor of Kursk Region, Roman Starovoyt. Kurchatov was also targeted by an unmanned aircraft on Friday.
Russian officials have accused Kiev of plotting acts of sabotage targeting the country’s major infrastructure sites, including nuclear power plants. The Russian border regions of Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod, as well as Crimea, have been frequently subjected to Ukrainian drone attacks.