Ukrainian forces conducted a massive drone attack on multiple Russian regions early on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported, adding that most of the UAVs were shot down.
Several drones did manage to make it through and hit an oil plant in Ryazan Region, leaving two people wounded and the facility ablaze.
In a short statement on Wednesday, the ministry wrote that “during the past night and morning of March 13, the Kiev regime’s attempts to conduct terrorist attacks on facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation involving plane-type UAVs were thwarted.”
Russian air defense forces shot down at least 58 drones, according to the statement. Later in the day, the ministry reported more drone interceptions on its Telegram channel.
Aside from Belgorod and Bryansk Regions, which border Ukraine, at least 29 UAVs made it to Voronezh Region. One unmanned aircraft was intercepted as far away as Leningrad Region in northwestern Russia.
Officials in Voronezh, Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod Regions confirmed on their respective Telegram channels that attacks had taken place overnight but that no casualties had been reported on the ground.
On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 25 incoming drones had been destroyed over seven regions. Some were downed over Moscow and Leningrad Regions, near the two largest cities in the country, military officials revealed.
A fuel facility in Nizhny Novgorod Region was damaged as a result of the drone raid, the local governor, Gleb Nikitin, reported. The mayor of the city of Oryol, Yury Parakhin, also announced the evacuation of 17 people from an area adjacent to a fuel facility “after an enemy drone fell on it.”
Russian air defenses repelled a similar wave of UAVs on Saturday morning, intercepting 47 aircraft.
Over the course of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, Ukrainian forces have routinely fired artillery, missiles, and explosive-laden drones at Russian border regions. Those attacks have caused numerous civilian casualties. The deadliest incident of the kind to date occurred in late December 2023, when a Ukrainian attack claimed the lives of 25 people and left more than 100 wounded.