(Reuters) – Russia’s air defence units destroyed at least 30 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said early on Sunday.
The drones were destroyed over Russia’s southern regions of Voronezh, Bryansk, Oryol, Lipetsk and Belgorod, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
One woman was moderately injured as a result of the drone attack on the border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram. He added that a few cars were also damaged.
Maxim Yegorov, governor of the Tambov region, some 450 km (280 miles) southeast of Moscow, said a Ukrainian drone fell onto the Michurinsky district of the region, sparking a short-lived fire but causing no injuries or material damage.
The Russian defence ministry reports only how many drones its units destroy, not how many Ukraine launches. Russian officials also rarely disclose the full scale of damage inflicted by the attacks, especially when they involve military or energy infrastructure.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has often said that its attacks inside Russia target infrastructure key to Russian war efforts and are in response to Moscow’s continued strikes on Ukrainian territory.
(Reporting by Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Ron Popeski and Lidia Kelly; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Jamie Freed)
