A total of 158 drones were shot down or intercepted by electronic warfare during a large-scale Ukrainian attack on Russian territory overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
UAVs were shot down over more than a dozen Russian regions, according to a statement issued by the ministry on Sunday morning.
“During an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using unmanned aerial vehicles,” Russian air defenses eliminated 46 drones above Kursk Region, 34 above Bryansk Region, 28 above Voronezh Region, and 14 above Belgorod Region, it said.
Moscow was also the target of an attack, with seven drones shot down over Moscow Region and two more above the capital itself, the statement read.
According to the ministry, eight UAVs were destroyed in Ryazan Region, five in Kaluga Region, four in Lipetsk Region, and three in 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.
Kiev 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 mid-August and saw 117 UAVs destroyed by air defenses. Another raid, just over a week ago, involved 45 drones, with 11 of them targeting Moscow, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.