Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the city of Moscow and nine over the surrounding Moscow region, the defense ministry said Sunday.
Forty-six of the drones were over the Kursk region, where Ukraine has sent its forces in recent weeks in the largest incursion onto Russian soil since World War II. A further were 34 over the Bryansk region, 28 over the Voronezh region, and 14 over the Belgorod region — all of which border Ukraine.
Drones were also shot down deeper into Russia, including one each in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, and the Ivanovo region, northeast of the Russian capital. Russia’s Defense Ministry said drones were intercepted over 15 regions, while one other governor said a drone was shot down over his region, too.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that falling debris from one of the two drones shot down over the city caused a fire at an oil refinery.
Ukrainian drone strikes have brought the fight far from the front line into the heart of Russia. Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals to slow down the Kremlin’s assault.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday it had taken control of the towns of Pivnichne and Vyimka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.
Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area.
In Ukraine overnight, eight drones were shot down out of 11 launched by Russia, according to the Ukrainian air force.
One person was killed and and four wounded in shelling in the Sumy region, local officials said, while Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said five people were wounded in shelling in his region.
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