Ukraine launches massive drone attack on Russia, Crimea
Russian air defenses captured 660 Ukrainian drones in a massive nighttime attack on 12 Russian regions, as well as the Russian-held Crimean peninsula, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
This appears to be one of the largest drone attacks on Russian regions and illegally annexed Crimea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
Ukraine’s long-range drones have been hitting targets, including oil production and energy facilities, behind the front lines and deep inside Russia for months, in a bid to reverse Russia’s grinding war of attrition.
Western officials and analysts say the campaign has clogged Russia’s fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalled Russia’s battlefield efforts and increased pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The massive attack came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had ordered a “40-day influence operation” in X. This operation is believed to represent an increase in attacks aimed at “forcing (Russia) to end the war” after US peace efforts last year yielded no progress.
A private house was damaged and a woman was injured in the attack in the Tula region just south of Moscow, Tula governor Dmitry Milyaev said online on Friday, as reports of the damage caused by the attack began to emerge.
He also said that a power line and an unspecified industrial facility in the city of Novomoskovsk were damaged.
Russian independent online publication Astra reported that a chemical plant and hydroelectric facility in Novomoskovsk were attacked and set on fire.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the report and there was no official confirmation.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also reported that 47 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles flying towards the Russian capital were shot down.
There were no reports of casualties or damage.
Two people were killed and seven others injured in Russian attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region in the past 24 hours, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said on Friday.
Syniehubov said Russian forces hit the city of Kharkiv and 16 other settlements in the region using guided aerial bombs and various types of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Ukrainian air force said Ukrainian defense forces intercepted 174 of 189 Russian drones overnight.
However, it was stated that 4 of the 7 Iskender-M ballistic missiles fired passed the air defenses and hit various places.
