Russia’s Defense Ministry said early Sunday that its air defense systems downed nearly 160 Ukrainian drones across 15 regions, including two over Moscow, making it one of the largest coordinated attacks on the country since the start of the war.
“During the night, the Kyiv regime attempted a terrorist attack using drones against targets in Russian territory, but air defense systems on duty successfully intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The military added that most of the drones were destroyed in the border regions of Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh and Belgorod.
The air barrage comes just days after more than 200 Russian drones and missiles targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in one of the largest such attacks. It is also nearly a month since Ukrainian troops launched a surprise cross-border offensive into the southwestern Kursk region
Near Moscow, a coal-fired power plant was reportedly hit in Sunday’s large-scale drone attack, as was a Gazprom-owned oil refinery within the city boundaries.
“Another drone damaged a technical room at the Moscow Refinery after crashing. At the moment, a small fire is being put out,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.
In the central Tver region, authorities reported the downing of at least five drones in the area of the Konakovo thermal power station. An unverified video shared online claimed to show a drone crashing into the plant, causing a large explosion.
Across Russia, dozens of flights were delayed or rerouted due to the overnight attacks, the RBC business news outlet reported.
Russia and Ukraine have both intensified their attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure in recent months, with Kyiv aiming to hinder Moscow’s capacity to carry out military operations.
AFP contributed reporting.
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