Russian air defenses intercept nine Ukrainian drones

“FAn attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using unmanned aerial devices against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation was interrupted”, explained the Ministry, in a message published on the Telegram platform.

Russian authorities reported that “service air defense systems destroyed nine unmanned aerial devices over the territory of the Moscow, Tula, Kaluga and Bryansk regions.”

The governor of the Bryansk region had earlier confirmed that the army “prevented another attempt by Ukrainian terrorists to carry out an attack with an unmanned aerial device”.

Alexander Bogomaz added, also on Telegram, that “the Russian Ministry of Defense’s air defense systems destroyed two unmanned aerial devices over the Bryansk region.”

Bogomaz assured in a message that “there were no victims or damages” and that “emergency services are working at the scene”.

This message came after a first in which the governor reported that two other drones had been shot down in the Karachevsky and Bryansk regions.

The governor of Tula reported that two more drones were shot down in the region. One of them, explained Alexey Dyumin, “lost control and crashed into an apartment building”.

Dyumin said there was no serious material damage, although “one of the residents of the house suffered minor injuries and received medical assistance.”

Later, the Tula regional government reported the destruction of a third drone in the region, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

Drone attacks, symbolic of the war in Ukraine, have multiplied in recent months, carried out by forces from Kiev and Moscow.

On Friday, Russia said it had destroyed 16 Ukrainian drones in the south of the country and over the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014 and regularly targeted by Kiev due to its strategic position on the Black Sea.

Ukraine on Saturday accused Moscow of having carried out the largest drone attack on Kiev since the beginning of the invasion of the country in February 2022.

The Ukrainian air force said on Saturday it had shot down 71 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones launched by Russia. “Most of them were destroyed in the Kiev region,” the Ukrainian government said on social media.

Five people, including an 11-year-old child, were injured in the Russian offensive, according to authorities in the Ukrainian capital.

The aerial alert lasted six hours and falling drone debris caused fires and damaged buildings in the capital, said Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Around 80 residential blocks and more than 100 buildings in Kiev were left without electricity.

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