Russia said it repelled Ukrainian drone attacks against three western regions, while also thwarting an attempted landing in Crimea.
(Bloomberg) — Russia said it repelled Ukrainian drone attacks against three western regions, while also thwarting an attempted landing in Crimea.
Air defenses intercepted and destroyed 31 drones over the regions of Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod bordering Ukraine, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported Wednesday. Forces prevented an attempted raid on Crimea, annexed in 2014, that involved a high-speed military boat and three jet skis, the ministry said on Telegram.Â
No casualties were reported in the overnight drone assault, which was one of the largest in recent months on Russian regions bordering Ukraine. The government in Kyiv generally doesn’t comment on retaliatory strikes in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine that’s now in its 20th month and has involved large-scale Russian missile and drone attacks on cities. Â
Still, Ukraine’s ministry intelligence said on its website that a unit had landed on the Crimea peninsula, with an accompanying video showing troops holding up a national flag. An official at Ukraine’s security service also said drones hit an S-400 anti-aircraft complex in Russia’s Belgorod region in the second such attack in less than a month. Bloomberg couldn’t verify the information.
Read more: Ukraine Says It Hit Russian Missile Unit in Western CrimeaÂ
Drone attacks on Moscow appear mostly to have stopped in the last few weeks after the capital was frequently targeted over the summer, prompting the city’s airports to interrupt operations.
(Updates with information on Crimea landing, drone strike in fourth pargraph)
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