Ukraine launched a drone attack on Russia late at night, with the Russian Air Force claiming on Sunday (March 9) that 88 Ukrainian drones were shot down. There were no reports of casualties, according to British news agency Reuters.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 52 drones were destroyed near the border in the Belgorod region, 13 in the Lipetsk region, and 9 in the Rostov region.
The remaining Ukrainian drones were downed in the Voronezh, Astrakhan, Krasnodar, Ryazan, and Kursk regions.
Governors of the Lipetsk and Ryazan regions stated that air raid alerts were issued late at night, but no damage or casualties have been reported so far.
Russia’s aviation regulator, Rosaviatsiya, mentioned that airports in Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan were closed for several hours overnight for safety reasons.
Some unofficial Russian media sources claimed that the attacks targeted oil refineries in Ryazan and Lipetsk.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, alleged that the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant in Lipetsk was hit. However, he did not provide evidence or directly attribute the attack to Ukrainian drones.
Reuters has not independently verified the targets of the attack.