Russia’s defense ministry says it has intercepted and downed 25 Ukrainian drones over separate regions of the country, including the capital Moscow.
“On-duty air defense systems intercepted and destroyed drones over the territories of Moscow (2 UAVs), Leningrad (1 UAV), Belgorod (7 UAVs), Kursk (11 UAVs), Bryansk (1 UAV), Tula (1 UAV), and Oryol (2 UAVs) regions,” the defense ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
One drone flying towards Moscow had been downed over Ramensky district near the capital, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
The remaining Ukrainian drones that were not intercepted carried out strikes across several regions of western Russia, causing a fire at two of Russian fuel depots in separate attacks.
The defense ministry said in the statement, “The Russian Armed Forces have foiled the Kiev regime’s attempt to launch terrorist attack using 25 fixed-wing UAVs against the facilities in the Russian Federation.”
The massive drone attack caused fire at fuel facilities in the Nizhny Novgorod and Oryol Regions.
“In the morning, the Kstovo industrial zone, a fuel and energy complex facility, was attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles. Now special services are working on the spot, using all the necessary forces and means to localize the fire at one of the oil refining installations,” Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin said on Telegram.
The Russian railways told the state news agency RIA that a fire train is taking part in extinguishing a fire on the grounds of the refinery.
The refinery belongs to Russia’s multinational oil and natural gas firm Lukoil, which announced that the facility has been closed “due to an incident.”
The other fuel and energy facility was hit in the city of Oryol during a drone attack, governor Andrey Klychkov noted on Telegram, saying special services are working at the site to contain a fire.
“In Oryol, the consequences of an evening drone attack have been eliminated. The resulting smoke does not pose any danger and is a consequence of the work of the fire services. There were no casualties,” Klychkov later reported.
The ministry also reported earlier that nine Ukrainian missiles were downed by the country’s air defense over the Belgorod region.
Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on the reports.
Two armed factions claiming to consist of Russians who are against the Kremlin and are based in Ukraine have announced on their social media platforms that they initiated an invasion across the Russian border on Tuesday.
