Russia shoots down almost 400 Ukrainian drones
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Russian air defense shot down 389 unmanned aerial vehicles coming from Ukraine. This attack was the largest reported nighttime attack on Russian regions and Crimea since Moscow forces invaded Ukraine more than four years ago.
UAVs were stopped in 13 regions of Russia, as well as in the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The attack underlined the growing capability of Ukraine’s domestically developed and produced long-range unmanned aerial vehicles.
This came a day after Russia expanded its usual nighttime bombardment into daylight hours in one of the largest air strikes of the war, firing nearly 1,000 drones and 34 missiles at civilian areas of Ukraine in 24 hours. Ukrainian officials said at least six people were killed and about 50 were injured.
The United Nations cultural organization UNESCO said it was “deeply alarmed” by Russia’s shelling of the 17th-century Bernardine Church, a World Heritage site in Lviv, western Ukraine.
The increase in airstrikes comes amid a pause in US-brokered talks between delegations from Moscow and Kiev, as Washington’s attention is diverted by the Iran war and Ukraine awaits a spring offensive by Russia’s massive army.
Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region north of Moscow, said that 56 UAVs were shot down here and a fire broke out in the Ust-Luga port in the Baltic Sea as a result of the Ukrainian attack.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that Ukrainian forces launched a missile attack on the Belgorod region on the Ukrainian border during the night, damaging the energy infrastructure.
He said electricity, water and heating supplies were interrupted.
Russian drones in Ukraine crashed into residential areas of Kharkiv, the second-largest city, on Wednesday afternoon, injuring at least nine people, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
The Ukrainian drone attack targeting Russia occurred in St. Petersburg, located in the northwest of Ukraine, where the drones were shot down. It attracted public attention in the Baltic states, which are relatively close to potential Russian targets in the Leningrad region, which includes St. Petersburg.
Officials in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Ukraine’s close allies in the war, said the drones were probably not targeting them.
Estonia and Latvia said the drones belonged to Ukraine, while Lithuania said the drone was “stray” without saying who launched it.
Estonian media reported that a drone from Russia broke the chimney of a power plant, but electricity production was not disrupted. The facility is located approximately 50 km from Ukraine’s targeted port of Ust-Luga.
Also on Wednesday, Latvia’s defense ministry said a drone crashed in an area close to Russia. No injuries or damage were reported.
In Moldova, on Ukraine’s southwestern border, authorities urged citizens to backup electrical power during peak hours after a Russian attack on Ukraine’s power grid cut a key power line between Moldova and Romania.
with DPA
