Russia says it shot down over 150 drones in an attack on Ukraine

Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Forty-six of the drones were over the Kursk region, where Ukraine has deployed its troops in recent weeks in what is the largest incursion into Russian soil since World War II. Another 34 drones were fired over the Bryansk region, 28 over the Voronezh region and 14 over the Belgorod region – all three bordering Ukraine.

Drones were also shot down further inland in Russia, including one each in the Tver region northwest of Moscow and the Ivanovo region northeast of the Russian capital. The Russian Defense Ministry said drones were intercepted in 15 regions. Another governor said a drone was also shot down over his region.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said falling debris from one of the two drones shot down over the city caused a fire at an oil refinery.

Ukrainian drone strikes have taken the fight far from the front lines and into the heart of Russia. Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has stepped up its airstrikes on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals in an attempt to slow the Kremlin's onslaught.

Also in Russia, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that nine people were injured in Ukrainian missile attacks in the Russian border region of Belgorod on Sunday. Eight of them were in the regional capital, also called Belgorod.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday it had seized control of the towns of Pivnichne and Vyimka in Ukraine's Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify that claim.

Russian forces are advancing deeper into the partially occupied eastern region, the complete capture of which is one of the Kremlin's main goals. The Russian army is advancing on Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub for Ukrainian defense in the region.

At least three people were killed and nine injured in Russian artillery shelling in the town of Kurakhove, about 33 kilometers south of Pokrovsk, on Sunday, said the governor of the Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, eight of eleven drones launched by Russia were shot down in Ukraine overnight.

One person was killed and four others injured in an artillery shelling in the Sumy region overnight, local authorities said. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said five people were injured in his region. On Sunday, 41 others were injured when Russia shelled the region's capital, also called Kharkiv, Syniehubov said.

Syniehubov said Sunday's attack damaged a shopping centre, a sports complex and residential buildings, among other things.

Copyright: NPR